An Unexpected Variable
by Seshat Constance
Summary: I'd love to summarize this story in 384 characters...and I've tried (several times)...but I can't. Essentially, it is an idea for an additional character (in Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl) who will be woven into the main frame of the plots. Hopefully it will turn into...something. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, please review! It would be greatly appreciated. :)
1. Chapter 1

***This is just the prelude. Let me know when and if you want more. **

**Hey, guys! So welcome to my fanfiction. This is my first one, so let me start of by saying, thank you so much for taking the time to read this! This said, please don't be too mean! If there's something you think I can improve upon, say it kindly. The story is rated T, because of potential violence in future chapters (and because I'm paranoid)...that aside, I thought I might want to explain a bit about this fanfic before you start reading. First of all, it's going to be a _long, slow_ process. I'm sorry but you'll have to bear with me. So, as far as the world goes, it'll stay kind of similar to the world of both of the books, save for the fact that I'll have squeezed my character in to the main plot of the story. Also, I've altered the wizard world to where _I _think it should be, because it irked me how primitive the wizards seemed in the original Harry Potter. As for romance/pairing and stuff, that'll have to wait till later-you'll see, trust me. All right then, now that you've read through this long, boring introductory paragraph that I kept drawing on and on just to irritate you, yes you, enjoy the story and don't forget to comment! **

The mid-June sun was high in the sky when the owl appeared. Kassia Banks had spent the entire afternoon sprawled underneath a tree. It was for good reason; the trees branches were wide and provided plenty of shade, while being near to the lake. Just beyond the lake, small mountains rose, gracefully sloping upward and down. It really was a spectacular place.

The girl underneath the tree, of course, paid little mind to the view that she was missing. She was deeply absorbed in her newest symphony. It was a nice little challenge to keep the melodies from sounding to Mozart-y; this was a problem that occasionally rose with this particular symphony. She used her imaginary baton to conduct her imaginary orchestra. In her head, she kept track of every instrument and every harmony, how the melodies rose and fell, crescendoed uproariously and then fell to barely more than a pianissimo. Finally, she sliced the air in a circular motion, signaling the end of her imaginary concert. She sighed contentedly and set aside her staff paper.

_"_Hearing _it will have to wait until later," _she thought to herself as she pulled out her copy of A Collection of Classic Greek Literature. She had been meaning to read it for a while now, but all of her special projects had gotten in the way. Especially those concerning the LEP.

Flipping to the first page, Kassia rolled lazily onto her stomach. Bits of her jet-black hair had fallen out of its braid and into her face; she brushed it away with a graceful, porcelain-like hand. While one hand turned the pages of her book, the other began to absentmindedly trail in the grass, picking un-blossomed wildflowers. She brought the little bundle of green close to her face, then gazed fixedly at them.

Suddenly, the flowers began to bloom, bursting into beautiful yellows and blues and reds. She smiled, picking through the newly-blossomed flowers until she found her favorite - a pale blue one that matched her floral t-shirt. She stuck it into her hair, her other hand coming off the book and allowing it to shut.

This was an ability that she'd had for a while, making things just _happen. _She'd been able to more or less _control _plants from a much earlier age, but she could do other things as well; levitate things, make animals do tricks, set things on fire or make them frost over. Once, when she was five, she had gotten so upset about not being able to go to the symphony that she had caused a glass of water to freeze instantly. The glass had shattered and flown everywhere. In fact, the room's temperature had dropped drastically. She had still not been able to go; her mother had gently explained that the concert ran well past her bedtime. Another time, just a few years ago, she had been reading at a park on a particularly sunny spring day. A boy of about her age had begun to tease her for being tall and skinny as a rail, being pale, being a _nerd. _She did not usually lose her temper (she had learned how to control it in various psychology classes) but the boy had really begun to irk her. Just as she began to shout at him to go away, a thunder cloud had appeared above their heads. It began to rain in torrents, and the boy ran for cover. However, as he ran, the rain followed him, seeming to seek out his eyes and face. Kassia could have sworn she saw a raindrop fall _up _just to land in his eye. She came back to that park for years after, but never saw that boy again.

"Kas, time for lunch!" shouted Mrs. Banks from the nearby cabin, interrupting Kassia's thoughts. Sighing as she realized she had lost her page, she trudged over to her mother, clutching her book and music to her chest. She sat down at the picnic table near the cabin, grabbed a sandwich, and popped her book open, propping it up on the tall pickle jar. She picked through the pages, finally finding the correct one. She continued her reading as she scarfed down her sandwich.

"Really, Kas?" Mrs. Banks sighed as she sat down next to her daughter with a plate heaping with food.

"Yes, mom," Kassia replied absentmindedly. "Since we _are_ taking a trip to Greece next month, I wanted to brush up on my Greek literature,". She paused for a moment. "And my _Greek_, for that matter. It's been...let's see..._a month _since I've read anything in Greek. I'm slacking". Mrs. Banks rolled her eyes. "Kas, I really don't think that the natives will expect you to have memorized _The Odyssey_. Or speak fluent Greek."

Kassia closed her book and set it on the bench next to her. She poured a glass of lemonade and sipped it, then set it gently on the table. "I think what you _mean _to say," she murmered softly, "Is that they don't expect a _ten-year-old_ to have memorized the Odyssey. Or speak fluent Greek." She gave her mother a knowing smirk.

"Oh, Kassia," Mrs. Banks sighed, "What _am _I going to do with you?"

After a few moments of silence Kassia finally spoke "So, mom...I have _a lot _of things to work on...on my computer, so I was wonder-"

"No," Kassia's mother interjected firmly. "No, I will not have you on the computer any more, young lady. I specifically said no electronics on this trip, and although you _did _manage to sneak your laptop here, I really think you could use a break from it."

"But _mom-" _

"Kassia, really, is it something so important that it can't wait another five days? I mean, what exactly do you _do _on that laptop of yours _all day_?"Mrs. Banks demanded.

"Umm..." Kassia began, but was cut short as a shadow flashed across her vision. Suddenly, an owl sat in the middle of the plate of sandwiches at her elbow. Shocked, Kassia nearly leaped out of her seat.

The owl was lovely: its feathers were dappled with complex brown and black patterns. Its lamp-like eyes glowed a dazzling yellow.

And there was a letter clutched in its beak.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay guys, here's the next installment of my story. Hope you're enjoying it so far. I'll admit these aren't all that action-packed, but they will get better, I promise. In fact, I'll make the unbreakable vow. :) Enjoy the story, and if it wouldn't be too much trouble, take a few seconds and PLEASE review. PLEASE (or I might be tempted to withhold chapters...)**

Kassia and her mother stared at the owl for a moment, too shocked to move. The owl began to hoot and hop around madly, knocking the letter against lemonade pitchers, pickle jars, and Kassia's hand. It didn't take a child prodigy to figure out that this owl was agitated about _something__._

"What does it want?" Mrs. Banks asked hoarsely.

"I think..." Kassia began to stretch her hand slowly toward the bird. She gently pulled the battered letter from the it's beak, and it immediately turned its back on her, pecking at the sandwiches beneath its feet.

Tearing her gaze away from the impatient owl, Kassia stared at the parcel clasped gently in her fingers. It was lovely – or, at least, _had _been. The front of the envelope faced her now, as did a strange, elaborate gold seal; it looked to some sort of...crest. When she turned the envelope over to the other side, her heart stopped. On the back was an address. Her address, in scrawly, carefree cursive.

_Miss Kassia Banks_

_Upstate New York _

_Little Cabin in the Woods_

She took a deep breath to calm herself. _"Don't be illogical," _she reminded herself. _"There is _always _a logical explanation". _Then again, what _was logical, _really?

"_Pipe down, Kassia," _she thought, then _"So now I've resorted to talking to myself. In my head. Wonderful, I'm a lunatic". _

But curiosity still drove her.

With now-steady hands, she ripped the top of the envelope open and pulled out a letter. Like the envelope that contained it, the letter was written on heavy, creme-colored paper. In the same writing as on the back of the envelope, the letter read:

_Dear Miss Banks, _

_ We are pleased to announce that you have been accepted to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hogwarts boasts a large array of amenities, including a state-of-the-art quidditch field, a world-renowned teaching staff, and a lovely campus. Included in this letter is your list of materials for this year's classes. Should you have any questions, simply send me an owl. _

_Have a wonderful first year at Hogwarts. _

_Sincerely, _

_Albus Dumbledore _

_Headmaster_

_*Should you be a Muggle in need of some assistance, kindly return the owl with this letter and a representative will collect you shortly._

After finishing the letter, Kassia passed it over to her mother. She observed her mother's reaction closely, thinking that it might lead her to a conclusion of what this all meant. She'd been accepted to a special school. But special in what sense – that was the question.

Her mother began to read the letter. Her eyebrows shot up and she bit her lip. She was stressed about something; that's Kassia could tell. So she _did_ know something about what was going on. If she hadn't, she would have been confused, but clearly, her mother knew about this Hogwarts place.

When she had finished the letter (which, Kassia noted, took significantly longer than it had taken her), Mrs. Banks set it gingerly on the table, almost as if afraid it would explode.

"I don't know what the meaning of this is," she began, "But your father and I will definitely discuss it -".

"You're lying," Kassia said bluntly. "You know what's going on, and I'm a little insulted that you thought you could just obscure it from me. Mother, you know what's going on, and seeing as it concerns me, I really think I ought to know about it."

"You always speak so properly when you get upset," Mrs. Banks said nervously, "I think you should-"

Kassia leaped to her feet. "Honestly mother I demand to know what's going on! Your hiding it from me will be in vain; I know how to get this information – and believe me, I will, one way or another, vous ne pouvez pas cacher la vérité à moi!

After a few long moments of silence, Kassia sat down, embarrassed at her sudden outburst; she always ranted in French when she was very angry. Her mother turned to her and bowed her head.

"Kassia...I'm...not... not your real mother," she said softly. "We adopted you from England, of all places, because we wanted children _so badly _but we didn't...couldn't have any, and when you came we were _so _happy, but we knew the truth might upset you, so...". She began to cry.

"I understand why you didn't tell me," Kassia said, patting her mother's (well, _Mrs. Bank's_) hand soothingly,"But I think you're aware that I can handle the truth."

"Then there's something else you should know, Kas. You see, when you were smaller...what can I say, you were incredibly gifted, even as a baby. But we noticed that you _did things. _Unnatural things. We liked to pretend that it was just a part of your being gifted, but some of the things you did..."

Kassia nodded impatiently. She knew exactly where this conversation was going, what her mother's suspicion was; in fact, the letter had confirmed the hypotheses that she had had for years. She had simply been afraid to ask her mother for confirmation for fear of being thrown in a squishy white cell with lots of crayons.

"But I began doing some research," Mrs. Banks continued, "about some of the 'symptoms' you were having, and I finally realized that what I was seeing was magic, wizardry, things they put in Grimm fairy-tales. That, for sure, was what I was seeing. This school, Hogwarts, they contacted me when they found out what I was searching – they monitor the internet, for security reasons, you know - and the headmaster, Dumbledore, said he would help me. And so you see," she finally concluded, tears streaming down her face now, "you need to learn how to be a wizard."

Kassia took a very small moment to digest this information. "When will I be leaving?"

"Well, you see, Mr. Dumbledore and I have been in contact for a while now, and he said he would arrange all of the transportation and escorting and gathering of materials...pickup was supposed to be not long after you got your letter, but I wasn't sure how long "not long" is to him...I thought of this trip as our last bit of time together before..." she broke into a fit of sobs.

A very uncomfortable silence ensued, broken only by Mrs. Banks's sniffles. Eventually, she spoke up. "How much of this did you already know, Kas?"

"A decent amount of it, although I _was _in the dark about this 'wizard world'...I assumed that there were others like me, but I suppose I was questioning my own sanity so much that I never sought them out. Although, this does explain a lot of the untraceable websites that I run across on the internet...the ones with the broken connections. Perhaps they have their own complex computer code that integrates..."

Upon seeing the look on her mother's face, she stopped her rambling and smiled bashfully.

"And Kassia, I just want you to know that-" Mrs. Banks began before a loud swishing sound had drowned out her words.

A man stood at the center of the clearing between the lake and the cabin. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with short-cropped blond hair and a thin mustache. His clothes were odd; he appeared to be wearing maroon-colored _robes _and a matching _cloak..._very strange.

He approached the two ladies, then stopped at the end of the picnic table, then said "Est-ce la jeune femme J'ai été chargé de ramasser?"

Immediately, Kassia intervened, and in flawless French, she replied "Je suis désolé, monsieur, mais ma mère ne comprend pas le français."

The main raised his eyebrows, seeming a bit shocked, but turned to Mrs. Banks and in a heavy French accent said, "I am sorry, madame, I did not realize...but this is the young lady, no?"

Mrs. Banks rose and smiled charmingly. "Yes, sir, this is her. I am sorry we we are not prepared for your...arrival, but if you'll give us a few moments, we should be ready. And what was your name? I didn't quite catch it."

He took her hand and kissed it gently. "Eric Ardoin," he replied, "Now you must go get ready, mademoiselle, for we must be on our way."

The inside of the cabin was, in a word, homey. The furniture was home-made, from a wood-carver that Mr. and Mrs. Banks had met in the Philippines. Earthen-looking rugs covered the floors, and various tapestries were draped on the furniture and hung on the walls. The cabin itself was _huge _and filled with rooms; a gourmet kitchen, several large bedrooms with luxurious king-sized beds, and at Kassia's insistence, a large library. In various corners, equipment for recreational sports were stashed. Kassia had used her bow, quiver, and target for practice just yesterday. They now lay sprawled in the middle of the living room floor. A grand stone fireplace was the key feature of this room; the Banks had spent many nights in front of it, debating politics or talking business or just chatting. One distinct thing stood out, though; other than the lights and kitchen appliances, there was nothing electronic. This, of course, was Mrs. Bank's idea.

Kassia went immediately to her room when she entered the cabin. Through the doorway, left through the kitchen, up the spiral staircase, and left down the longest hallway in the cabin. The last door on the right. Her room.

It was a fairly cluttered space; bookshelves, a dresser, a desk, and a tiny bed covered every bit of exposed wall. A large bay window was the only space not covered by something. This was her second favorite place to read in the world – other than underneath her tree, of course. The room was decorated in the same style as the living room, littered with rich-looking tapestries and rugs. Her incense burned in the corner, giving the room a flowery aroma.

She was going to miss this.

"_Deep breaths," _she thought to herself. "_And a clear mind." _Now it was time to pack.

She did this quickly, throwing her various t-shirts and jeans and sweaters and skirts (which she knew she would never use) into her suitcase. She ran about the house, snatching up her toothbrush and minimal jewelry, whatever else she thought she might need, and shoving it into her suitcase along with her clothes.

Then, she slipped into her parent's room and over to the bedside table. In the drawer sat her computer. She snatched it up and went into her powder room, the one place she wouldn't be disturbed.

The silvery glow of the computer made her face look ghastly. Finally, the computer booted up. She was able to find an internet connection, albeit a weak one, with a bit of searching. After a few minutes of typing in passcodes, she was able to connect to a phantom website. This is what connected her to the fairy police.

The site was very similar to Skype; she had just sent a request to chat. While she was waiting for a response from Commander Root, she massaged her temples. It had been a long day, and it was only getting more exhausting.

Finally, Root's beet-red face filled the screen. "Banks!" he shouted in gnomish "Why haven't I heard from you? You were-"

She silenced the commander with a wave of her hand. "I purposely let my mother find my laptop; I knew that it would eliminate any distrust throughout the trip. This is why you have not heard from me, to answer your first question. To respond to your second and uncompleted statement, yes, I am aware that I was to give you an update. Our allegiance is an uneasy one, I'll admit, but really, commander, you know that you can trust me. Don't you?" she said, giving him a charming smile.

He just scowled "Don't let it happen again, Banks."

Kassia raised her eyebrows, but nodded her head. "Of course, commander. But I suppose I should inform you of some...interesting information. Or I suppose it is more of an interesting question. Do you know of a _wizard world_?"

Root blinked his beady eyes. "No. Why do you ask?"

She let out a small chuckle. "Really, commander? I don't believe you. So, you _do _know of such a, dare I say, _civilization. _And why, may I ask, have I not been informed? I do have some theories, but I would like to hear your take on the matter."

Root gaped at her. "Um, well...you see...fairies have trust issues, Miss Banks. The wizards have been our distant allies for a long time, and if you decided to, well, rekindle old rivalries, let's say, that would be bad for us."

Kassia's eyebrows shot up. "So the wizards are more powerful than the fairies...interesting."

"That's not what I said-"

"But that _is _what you meant."

Root sighed. "Yes. Yes, they probably _are _more powerful than us. They have an almost unending power supply, they're fairly technologically advanced, and they have strength in numbers...and they're very well-hidden. I'd be afraid to be at war with them, that's for sure."

"You mentioned rekindling old rivalries. What exactly do you mean?"

Root turned purple. "What is this, an interview? What do I-"

"Commander, please!" Kassia said urgently.

"All right," Root, murmured. "About ten years ago, there was this really awful dark wizard, and people were so afraid of him that they were afraid to say his name." He paused. "Voldermort." His voice was barely a whisper. "He gained lots of followers, and he was about to take down their government, the Ministry. The fairies decided to intervene. We were slaughtered. The wizards tried to help us, but they were barely surviving themselves. We knew that soon, we would have to surrender to _him._"

There was a moment of silence as Kassia let this sink in. Root continued.

"But then, he just...well, he was going to murder this wizard family, the Potters, and he did. Lily and James Potter died, but when he was about to kill Harry, he just disappeared. The boy was barley a year old."

"So _he_ didn't die, then?"

"Dumbledore is convinced that he's still alive, but..."

"Shh, Root, someone is coming."

Kassia's mother knocked on the door. "Kas, honey, are you ready to go?"

"Just a minute, mom, I'm going to shower."

After a quick goodbye to Root, she shut down her computer and sneaked her laptop back to its drawer. Then, true to her word, she showered. She pondered the events of the day; surprisingly enough, she felt fairly normal, whatever _that _meant. She thought about her allegiance with the LEP, how she had discovered them months ago, and had discreetly made contact with them. It had taken a while to get them to trust her; as Root had said, fairies have trust issues. But she had made a promise to them, one that she knew that may endanger her life if she did not keep it.

She had sworn to keep the fairy world a secret, and to become an honorary member of the LEP, if they helped to remove her curse.

When she reached the living room, suitcase in hand, still-wet hair pulled up into a sloppy bun, her mother was there waiting for her. Mrs. Banks held a backpack in her hand and two other suitcases sat at her feet. Her face was tear stained, but she wore a brave smile.

"Ready to go?" she asked hoarsely.

"I suppose so."

And then Mrs. Banks burst into tears. She embraced her daughter, sobbing. "K-kassia I'm s-so sorry I should have told you s-s-sooner and I'm g-going to miss you _so much, _p-please promise you'll write..."

"I think I'll still call you mom," Kassia said after a long silence. "Because you raised me and took care of me, and...yes, I'll write."

They broke apart, and Mrs. Banks handed Kassia the backpack. Inside, she found a pouch with strange coins, a sweater, a small bag of fresh fruit, the letter from Dumbledore, and...her laptop. She turned to her mother, confused. "You'll need one, for some of your classes. The list is in the letter, so I took a look at it...I'll send some more clothes to wherever you'll be staying, and you can shop for your other school supplies later. You'll be staying at an inn for about a month before you actually start school."

"Why so long?"

"Because, I want you to get to know your people. How they live, how they act. You won't be able to do that here. All this was arranged as soon as I found out what...or _who _you are. Dumbledore is a great man. You'll like him." She smiled. "In fact, they say he's one of the greatest wizards who ever lived."

They stood in silence, until Ardoin strode into the room. "Are you ready, mademoiselle?" he asked. He sounded genuinely concerned.

Kassia smiled and nodded. It disturbed her a bit how easily she could lie. _"I am a genius," _she reminded herself, _"I should not be surprised." _

And then Kassia and Mrs. Banks hugged one more time, breaking apart quickly, not wanting to make a scene. Kassia was used to this; it was frowned upon for her family to show too much affection in public.

"I'll call your father, explain what's happened." Mrs. Banks said after they broke apart. Kassia felt a little pang in her chest, suddenly sad that she could not say goodbye to him personally. But he'd had so much work to do; financing things that Kassia could have helped with, had this trip not been scheduled. She understood, though; being one of the richest men in the world was probably exhausting.

"Madame, I will have to use your fireplace," Ardoin said, digging through the pack at his side. Finally, he produced a small silver pouch.

Mrs. Banks nodded. She flipped the nobs on the front of the grand stone fireplace, instantly lighting a fire. "All yours," she said.

Ardoin stepped over to the blazing fire. He reached into the pouch and pulled out a strange, powdery substance.

He threw it into the fire, and it instantly flared up and turned green. He then set the pouch next to the fireplace. He came over to where the two ladies stood, picking up the suitcases and allowing Kassia to shoulder the backpack. "After you," he said, nodding at the fire.

"_Into _the fire?" she asked skeptically. He nodded. She stepped toward the fire, thinking _"I _must _be mad" _But as she stepped into the flames, she merely felt a tingling sensation. "Now," said Ardoin, "take a fistful of the Floo powder, then say, very clearly, The Leaky Cauldron, and throw it down. All right?"

She nodded, and did as he said, and soon she was spinning and disoriented and missing home already.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey there, dear readers, hope you're enjoying the fanfic! If you've made it this far, congratulations! You haven't been bored by my boring drawl. If you are bored, let me know! Let me know what you want to see more or less of, what you liked, what you didn't like, etc. I acknowledge that I did change a _lot _of story elements, but I felt that the changes were necessary to the story. So please please please PLEASE review and follow and favorite. It lets us authors know what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong, and that's the only way the story will get better. Now enjoy! **

* * *

The Leaky Cauldron was a decent place to stay. It was near Diagon Alley, where Kassia would be doing her shopping, escorted by a man named Hagrid ( Ardoin had forbidden her from roaming the streets alone).

Ardoin had explained many things to her; how the government worked, how education had been set up, why the wizards had stayed hidden. She had already made mental notes as to how these could be improved. _"Perhaps I should submit them to this 'Ministry of Magic'," _she had thought to herself. And by 'submit', of course she had meant 'owl'. That was yet another thing that had been explained to her, wizard customs. The topic was brought up when she pointed out how ineffective owls were at delivering information; Ardoin had explained that owls were a prominent symbol of wizard heritage, a connection to the past, of sorts. As were all of the 'silly clothes' (which Kassia had also pointed out) and outdated buildings. He had delved into the topic of Lord Voldermort's 'reign of terror', which she had to pretend to know nothing about; even though she was among wizards, she did not want to risk the fairy's security, or her allegiance with them.

She found plenty of pastimes at the Leaky Cauldron, from people-watching to helping Tom, the owner, with managing his inn. She spent plenty of time on her computer. Her messages to Commander Root had become much more frequent, and, oddly enough, enjoyable. She had met Miss Holly Short, one of the most decorated officers in the LEP. Kassia had found her very likeable. _"Perhaps we're becoming frieinds..." _she thought to herself, then pushed the thought from her mind. No matter how pure her intentions were, no matter how evident it was to _her _that she wanted to _help _the fairy people, the fairies would never trust her enough to become her friend.

After a month of being cooped up there, though, she became a bit restless, and after another week, she was practically banging her head against the walls. And then, Hagrid came.

She had been sitting in her room on the second floor (which reminded her painfully of her room in the cabin), when Tom had knocked on her door. "Come in," she responded. When the door opened, she found that it was completely filled by...someone. The person (she assumed it was a man) had to practically kneel to fit through the door, and, in fact, barely made it through.

The man took up a considerable amount of the room. When she offered him a chair, he simply said, "Nah, I'd jus' break it." He remained standing.

"I've been expecting an escort for a while," she said without explanation.

He nodded simply. "Yeah, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper for the greatest wizard school in the worl'. And yer' escort around Diagon Alley." She nodded in response.

"Bu' before we do tha', we have ter pick up another student."

"So I'm going along with you to pick up this student?" He nodded. "It'll save me a trip back here. We have to take a trip ter Gringotts 'fore we shop fer school."

"All right... a bit strange, but I suppose it would be all right to tag along," Kassia responded uncertainly.

Hagrid gestured to the door. "Ready ter go?"

Their destination was a house (if "house" was being used in a general sense) on a rock surrounded by ocean. She Hagrid enchanted the small, rickety boat to propel them to the shack. By the time her foot touched the shore, she was completely drenched from head to toe from the torrential rain and angry ocean. She was tired, she was cold, and when Hagrid broke down the door, she had a gun pointed in her face.

"_Not very good manners..." _she thought to herself, then _"Ugh. I sound like my mother."_

Once her eyes adjusted, she saw eight eyes peering at her through the gloom; one pair belonged to a wispy boy of about her age with round glasses perched on his nose. His hair was jet-black, like hers, but extremely messy. On his forehead, she saw a red marking, shaped like a lightning bolt. It almost looked like... but no. It couldn't be.

The man holding the gun was huge, with practically no neck at all. His angry, beady eyes were fixed on her and Hagrid. Standing next to him was (what Kassia assumed to be) the rest of the family. There was a tall, giraffe-necked lady, and an incredibly pudgy boy.

"Get out of my house!" screamed the mustachioed man.

Instantly, Hagrid's mood changed from cheery to thunderous. "Quiet down, Dursley!" He turned back to Harry, now smiling. "Do ya' have yer letter, Harry?" When Harry shook his head no, Hagrid turned back to Mr. Dursley, enraged. "Dursley!" he screamed, "You dare ter hide the truth from 'im! He deserves ter know who he is, who his parents-"

"Don't you _dare _mention my sister!" interjected the Mrs. Dursley. "My sister...was a freak!" she turned to Harry and yelled "Just like her son!"

By this point, Hagrid was screaming uncomprehendingly at the top of his lungs, driving the cowering Dursley into the corner. Eventually, he must have remembered the presence of the two minors. He backed away from the Dursleys slowly, looking a bit sheepish. He pulled a box out of his cloak (strange...) and handed it to Harry with a smile. "Happy Birthday, Harry."

The boy looked incredulously at the package, as if it wasn't meant for him. He took, the box gingerly, tore off the ribbon, and opened the box to reveal...a cake. It was pretty (although the icing was a bit smudged) and decorated with the words _Happy Birthday, Harry!_

"And, Harry," Hagrid murmured, "I s'pose I have ter tell you 'bout yer parents, how they died."

Harry finally spoke, "You mean in a car crash."

The huge man sighed. "No. Yer parents were very good people, Harry. Good wizards. Yeah," he said upon seeing the boy's reaction, "Yer a wizard, Harry."

Harry appeared taken aback, shocked. Kassia wondered, for a moment, if she had looked the same way when her mother had told her. She immediately perished the thought; she was almost never surprised.

"But, no, yer parents didn' die in a car crash," Hagrid continued. "There was this wizard, Harry, a dark one, bad as they could go. He..killed a lot of people. But you," he pointed, "you stopped 'im. Yer parents, though, they were..." Hagrid trailed off, looking as if he was fighting back tears. Kassia looked down. "He killed them." she whispered to herself. The wind and the battering sea swallowed her words.

"He killed 'em, Harry, this dark wizard," Hagrid finished.

They were interrupted by a loud munching sound, coming from the couch behind Harry...the pudgy boy appeared to be eating Harry's cake. Hagrid produced an umbrella from his coat, and pointed it at the boy. A pig tail sprouted from the boy's bottom.

Kassia sighed in disgust. "Ugh, vakavasti?" she muttered under her breath. _"__Wizards are immature as well as strange dressers. Fantastic..."_

As Hagrid began to speak to (or, rather, _order_) the Dursleys about sleeping arrangements, Harry made his way over to her. "Hi," he murmured awkwardly. "Harry. Er...my names' Harry. Potter."

Kassia smirked a bit back at him. "I caught that, thanks. My name is Kassia."

For a very long while, they chatted, until Hagrid gave Harry his Hogwarts letter, ranted and raved about the school, and ordered them both to bed. Harry explained his family, how they had told him lies for years, how his aunt, uncle, and cousin, Dudley, had hated him...but he didn't complain, nor did he speak of his parents or cry or mourn; he kept an extremely level head. And, as they chatted, and even as Kassia was drifting off to sleep, she couldn't help but wonder if she had made her first friend. And for the first time in a while, she was happy.

Until the nightmare came.

She was walking along a dimly-lit corridor. It was the middle of the day (indicated by the faint light shining through the grimy windows). AS she walked, it occurred to her that she was not thinking of doing it, nor could she stop herself. As her eyesight shifted, she saw various doors lined the hallway. Finally, she stopped at one of the doors, and it opened at her touch.

Inside, she found a young lady, curled up in a ball and writhing from pain. Her pretty face was contorted in agony. She was screaming and crying and begging...Kassia almost turned away. Until she saw the other man standing in the room.

"You brought this upon yourself, Miss Meadowes," he whispered, his voice velvety yet deadly. His face was hidden by the shadow on his cloak's hood, and his wand was pointed threateningly at Miss Meadowes. The lady whimpered in response. "Please..." she croaked, her voice hoarse, "make it stop, please make it stop, I can't I can't I CAN'T!" she eventually screamed.

The man turned his face, now giving Kassia a clear view of his face. She wished he hadn't.

It was as white as bone, his eyes were dark, and malicious, full of hate. His face, Kassia realized, reminded her of a snake's; the only difference was that this man had a nose. Voldermort. This man was Voldermort.

He made his way over to the lady, tapping his wand against his hand nonchalantly, smiling easily (and gruesomely). "You have been exceptionally non-compliant over the last few days, very brave in fact...but my patience is wearing very thin, and, unfortunately, your loved ones will pay dearly for it."

Miss Meadowes simply gazed at him wearily. She did not speak.

"Very well..." Voldermort murmured.

A young man was shoved roughly into the room by way of another door. It closed immediately behind him. The man was young, and admittedly, very handsome, with shaggy blonde hair and a muscular build. Currently, however, the man looked terrified. he did not move from the spot where he knelt.

"You see, Miss Meadowes," Voldermort continued, "I am willing to make you a very fair offer...if you agree to reveal the information that I have asked of you, your finace, young William here, goes free free. If you do not..." he pointed his wand at William and muttered _"Crucio..." _

Will began to writhe in pain, screaming at the top of his lungs, all of his muscles contracting. It was horrible, just too horrible...

Then, suddenly, it stopped. "Have you decided yet, Miss Meadowes?" Voldermort asked politley.

The lady looked firmly into his eyes. She was confident, sure, determined. "No."

Voldermort's face contorted with rage. "You daredefy me! I am Lord Voldermort, the most powerful sorcerer on Earth! I will not be made a fool of!"

He pointed his want at William and screamed "_Avada Kedevra_!"

There was a flash of green light. Will crumpled to the floor, his eyes empty, his limb unmoving. Dead.

"For the last time, Miss Meadowes," Voldermort said, his voice now even, "Am I to kill you or let you live?"

"Kill me," she whispered, " I cannot betray my friends...and Will..."

"A poor decision," Voldermort snarled, "But Lord Voldermort is merciful..."

Again, he yelled "_Avada Kedavra_!" and again there was a flash of green light. Miss Meadowes was dead.

Kassia woke up feeling clammy and sweaty. She was about to scream. The dream...

She remembered only a few small details: Screaming, agony, people contorting and writhing in pain...and Volermort's snake-like face.

In the morning, the sea was calm. They (Kassia, Harry, and Hagrid) made their way back to shore on the enchanted boat (Hagrid explained his expulsion from Hogwarts, but left out many details, Kassia noticed). They had breakfast at a local cafe, a simple one of toast and tea, with birthday cake for dessert.

They visited the wizard bank, Gringotts, and Diagon Alley. They bought all of their school supplies there, including an owl for each student; Harry, with snow-white Hedwig, and Kassia with pitch-black Diablo.

While Harry and Hagrid stopped at Madame Malkin's to pick up their robes (they had been measured earlier in the day), Kassia went to Olivander's to get her wand.

The shop was old and smelled of aging wood. The shopkeeper himself appeared to be in his late seventies, and very, very busy with something...even if that something was gazing at a wall. "Excuse me!" she siad as she rapped on the counter. Startled, the man, Olivander, turned to her accusingly. "Don't you dare scare me ever again, young lady, or you may very well lose an appendage!" After apologizing accepting Kassia's profuse apologies, Olivander began to search through his huge selection of wands. She tied one after the other, but none of them felt right. "The wand chooses the wizard, Miss," he had told her,"And it is important that we find the wand that will choose you." Finally, she found her wand.

Olivander had brought it out with a rather bemused look on his face. "Elder with Dragon Heartstring core, 13 and 1/4 inches, slightly yielding."

The wand fit perfectly in the palm in her hand. Instantly, multicolored sparks danced over her arm, out the tip of the wand and into the air. Wind swirled her long blacked hair around her. Her chocolate brown eyes glowed.

Olivander appeared taken aback. "This wand has chosen you...most curious." he whispered. He looked around him, as though afraid to be eavesdropped on and whispered to her, "Those who are chosen by an Elder wand are rumored to be highly unlucky, Miss. They also say they are marked with a great destiny."

To which she had responded "Perhaps, then, I am both." He had beamed at her, and bowed modestly. "Have a nice day, Miss."

The next few weeks were a blur; back to the Leaky Cauldron, time with Harry, LEP, reading (and memorizing) all of her textbooks, sleeping...and nightmares. These were strange; she always had the same one, but after a while, the details became clearer. Several months (or rather over a year) ago, when the dream had began, she had woken up shaken. She had not recalled the details of the dream, none at all. Then, about a month later, she'd had the dream again, but she remembered the hallway and an...idea of a voice. It had been recurring now for almost a year, and she could remember bits and pieces at a time. Now, the screams sounded raw and real in her ears, as easy to recall as the square root of 857 (29.2745623...). And still, fragments were missing.

Then one morning she realized something; school was starting soon. No, more than soon; it was starting _tomorrow! _

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**This is a more...traumatic chapter, and probably what you'll see more of from now on. Hope you enjoyed the action, though, and the introduction of Voldermort. For those of you who don't know wandlore, I highly recommend you research it, it's fascinating! I changed Kassia's age in previous chapters because I wanted her birthday (December 7th) to match up with the type of wand wood. This said, I basically gave her the most powerful and unlucky wand combination ever. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! It's me, Seshat, with the next chapter of Kassia's story. Unfortunately, the story had to be a lot more drawn-out than I wanted it to be, and Artemis won't be a main character for a another chapter or two. Sorry, sorry, sorry, but it WILL happen, I promise. Anyway, I need to ask you guys a favor; LEAVE A COMMENT! Take two seconds of your time, please, and leave a comment. I don't care if it's two words like "it's awful" or "it's good", or if it's entire paragraph devoted to praising the story or shooting it own and crushing my hopes and dreams. I will take your review into account, though, when I'm writing the next chapter. So think of commenting as an opportunity to change the fate of the internet, rather than just a waste of time. PLEASE! And enjoy...**

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King's Cross station was surprisingly busy for a Monday at nine o'clock AM.

As they made their way toward platform 9 and ¾, Kassia couldn't help but wonder how such a place could exist. She and Harry were wandering between platforms 9½ and 10, trying without success to locate their train. Despite Kassia's advice against it, Harry had asked an employee where it was. The man had given them a funny look, and asked if they were joking. Immediately, Kassia intervened, smoothly charming the man into believing her totally made-up story. They were now Jenny and Kevin from the outskirts of London on their way to a discreet private school just south of Maidstone. "Kevin is quite the prankster, you see," Kassia explained in a perfect British accent, "He didn't mean anything by his platform 9 and ¾ comment." After a few more minutes of schmoozing, Kassia waved goodbye to the man, sending him an angelic smile.

"Impressive," Harry murmured to her once they were out of earshot of the employee, "Have you had to do this kind of thing before?"

"My dad is a successful businessman, so I've had attend plenty of corporate parties and whatnot. I'm used to schmoozing clients and partners and, really, anyone who needs convincing." Kassia laughed. "Businessmen aren't exactly hard to flatter, though."

"And why is that?" asked Harry.

"They've heads the size of pumpkins and brains the size of walnuts," she replied with a smirk.

At ten-thirty, they began to worry; their train was leaving in half an hour, and they had no idea where it was.

Finally, they came upon a family of redheads that were obviously wizards; both the strange clothes and the talk about "Muggles" (non-magical people) gave it away.

A slightly plump, friendly-looking woman led the group. There were two boys who looked exactly alike, with mischievous-looking grins on there faces (who looked to be a bit older than Kassia), a pompous older boy with his nose high in the air, a boy Kassia's age with a nervous expression and a smudge of dirt on his nose, and a grinning younger girl holding the lady's hand. All of them were redheaded and dressed in worn clothing; they were a large, poor wizard family. This, at least, was the impression that they left on Kassia.

She and Harry walked up to the woman and asked discreetly where they might find platform 9 and ¾. She beamed widely at them and introduced herself as Mrs. Molly Weasley, the oldest pompous boy as Percy, the twins as Fred and George, the nervous boy as Ron, and the little girl as Ginny. Harry got a considerable reaction out of the family when he revealed his identity. Kassia couldn't help but giggle at their awed expressions and Harry's awkwardness at the attention. Finally, to break the uncomfortable silence, Kassia mentioned the time. Their group was instantly in a rush to get to the train; it was leaving in a few minutes. Harry shot her a grateful look.

Mrs. Weasley led them to a brick wall between platform 9 and ½ and platform 10. She gestured to it and said, "Who's first?"

The twins, Fred and George, charged into the barrier right away. And went right through. Next was Percy and Mrs. Weasley, then Harry and Ron, and finally, Ginny and Kassia.

It was incredible. There in front of her an entire train platform materialized where there had been a brick wall. Children and there parents were gathered around a huge, scarlet steam engine. Parents helped the students load their luggage onto the train and said their goodbyes. The Weasley children, Kassia, and Harry barely made it on the train in time. Once on board, Kassia, Harry and Ron found only one empty compartment. They shut the door.

The train ride was uneventful, overall; Kassia read and questioned (interrogated, more like) Ron about the wizard world. Everything, from their social structure to their economic state, she wanted to know it all. Ron, of course, could only provide a select number of answers.

An old witch with a trolley came around at about noon. Harry offered to pay for lunch, and Kassia figured it would be polite to accept his offer. He bought them a lot of food (Kassia was _not _a heavy eater). Luckily, Ron ate most of her portion. As they ate, Ron described the various wizard treats. Both Harry and Kassia were shocked when Harry pulled out a chocolate frog and it jumped around the cabin. Inside was a card with Albus Dumbledore on it, as well as information about his various achievements. And then he walked off of the card.

Ron laughed at their reactions. "You don't expect him to sit there all day, do you?"

Just then, someone opened their compartment door. Standing in the doorway was a girl who appeared to be a fellow first year, with incredibly bushy brown hair and prominent front teeth. Kassia looked up from her copy of _The Complete Works of the Brothers Grim_, raising her eyebrows at the girl."Have you seen a toad? A boy in my compartment, Neville, lost his," the girl said matter-of-factly, a bit a snobbishness evident in her tone.

The three of them shook their heads. Kassia went back to reading. The girl sighed, and she looked about to turn on her heel when she noticed Harry's scar. "You're Harry Potter!" she exclaimed, racing over to sit across from him, jostling Kassia and her stack of books (which had increased throughout the day as she had read). The books toppled to the floor. "Do you mind?" Kassia snapped, her chocolate-brown eyes turning icily to the girl. She ignored her, babbling to Harry. "I'm Hermione Granger, nice to meet you," she said, "And who are you?"

"Ron Weasley," Ron responded with a bit of food in his mouth. Hermione wrinkled her nose. "Pleasure. You have dirt on your nose, did you know?" As Ron rubbed his nose furiously, Kassia turned her annoyed gaze on this very rude, very out-of-place girl. "Dr. Kassia Rene Anastasia Grace Annette, lovely to meet you," she said curtly. "Now if you'll _excuse _me..." she muttered, bending down to pick up all of her books off of the floor.

Hermione stayed and gabbed for a while longer, then announced that they would be arriving at Hogwarts soon. "You all ought to get your robes on," she instructed, then whisked herself out the door, along with her ridiculous hair. They made their way to the lavatories on board the train to change. Soon, they had filed out of the train and were ushered to where Hagrid stood, holding a lantern high in the air. "Firs' years!" he called repeatedly. He waved to Kassia and Harry as they passed him. And as they made their way up the path to a lake, they got their first glimpse of the castle.

It was beautiful, with tall turrets and many towers and windows aglow. It stood majestically atop a hill. They took boats to the castle (according to various textbooks, this was a first year-only tradition). Kassia was lucky enough to be stuck with Hermione _again _for the boat ride. She found that if she concentrated enough, she could block out most of the annoying girl's rambling. The view from the lake was spectacular, the lanterns attached to the fronts of them resembling little stars bobbing across the water. Soon, though, the boat ride was over, and they made their way up to the castle itself. Huge front doors greeted them at the end of a small courtyard, where a severe-looking witch stood. Her hair was in a tight silver bun and horn-rimmed glasses were pushed far up her nose. "Welcome to Hogwarts, students. I am Professor McGogannal, the head of Gryffindore house. Today, we will begin your sorting..." Her speech was interrupted by someone bumping into her. She turned her head, ready to be annoyed again, but it turned out to be Harry. She smiled.

A blonde boy walked up to them then, an easy smile playing across his pinched features. He nodded to Harry. "Potter."

Harry frowned. "Do I know you?"

The boy's smile broadened, and two gorilla-like boys appeared behind him. "No. But you will. You see, I'd like to be your friend, Potter. A boy of your stature doesn't need to be hanging around with..." he gestured around. "My name's Draco Malfoy." Ron sniggered. Malfoy instantly turned on him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He turned to Harry again."You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He then turned to face Kassia. "And who is this?" he asked with smug tone. "Kassia," she responded coldly. Her gaze was level and calculating. She did not normally like to humiliate people, unless they annoyed her, but this particular gentleman obviously needed to be put in his place.

"Kassia," he mused mockingly, "And where exactly do you stand on the blood purity issue?"

"I currently remain against such segregation as you envision, seeing as such a primitive cast-like system is the setup for later financial and economical decline," she stated confidently, "but I really don't blame you for thinking of such ridiculous notions; in fact, you must hardly think at all. Really, it is much more likely that you are spouting boneheaded theories of your mommy and daddy's that somehow managed to penetrate your absurdly inflated, thick head."

Malfoy gaped at her for a moment, but managed to recover surprisingly quickly. "Speaking of thick heads, what, might I ask, is your IQ score, _Kassia_," he smirked, "twelve?"

She merely gave him a contented smile. "No. It is 215."

He gaped at her yet again, and then they were being ushered into two lines. She _again _was right next to Hermione Granger, who again, would not be quiet. They were led into the Entrance Hall and then into the Great Hall, where they were sorted one by one, after the sorting hat had sung a bizarre song. Harry and Ron were put into Gryiffindore, as was Hermione. Kassia walked up to the stool and allowed it to fall over her eyes...and a voice spoke in her head.

"_Definitely much academic potential, the most I have ever seen, yes, and bravery as well, plenty of that, but kindness too, yes, you mean well, don't you, and some a family history, I see...Slytherin may be the right fit, because of that, allright then, it's decided..._

"Gryffindor!" the hat exclaimed. Kassia released a relieved breath, not even realizing that she had been holding it. She strode over to the Gryffindore table, a rambunctious-looking group, which included all of the Weasley siblings. This was her new family.

The food at Hogwarts was incredible; tender meats and rich sauces, decadent soups and seemingly hundreds of different desserts. Kassia regretted her limited stomach capacity.

They were taken to their dormitories by the prefect girl (the head girl of the house) while Percy led the boys. The common room was nice and cheery, with a crackling fireplace and plenty of comfy armchairs.

Their dormitories, like everything else in the school, were lovely, with large four-poster beds. Her trunks had been laid at the end of one of the beds (naturally, the one next to Granger's) next to a large storage trunk. She did a bit of unpacking, loading her schoolbag with books for the next day, setting aside a fresh uniform. She was tired after the long day of travel, and decided it was unwise to begin reading; it was easy to lose track of time. Soon, she had drifted off to sleep...and into the same nightmare. Screaming, screaming screaming, high, cold laughter, a shiver down her spine...

Classes were grueling. They were not challenging in the least, they did not make fast progression, and they most certainly did not tell Kassia anything she didn't know. So, in order to make something _productive _come out of her presence here, she worked on her ongoing projects, or on fifth years' homework. Her first project, LEP allegiance, was a simple one, one that could be completed quickly. The fairies had begun to trust her. She discussed her curse, her dreams, with them, using all of her dream deciphering knowledge (which happened to be a lot) to pick apart her strange, disturbing dreams. Harry had described such dreams before, though not in as much detail; his had merely been flashes of green light (the killing curse, obviously) followed by high, cold laughter (Voldermort's laughter). They had to be interconnected, but how, and why...she would have to work on that.

She had tried to make contact with a young businessman by the name of Artemis Fowl via the internet. She had wanted to discuss the possibility of aiding the expedition to find his father (admittedly, she had felt bad for him). He had snubbed her entirely.

Her next project was her "Spy-der"; it was a useful, if badly-named device that mimicked many of a spider's abilities. Biologically enhanced spinnerets allowed it to swing from surface to surface, and gripping feet allowed it to stick to just about anything. It weighed less than 1/64 of a pound. And it was entirely mechanical. There were, of course, adjustments to be made; for example, it had no arms to interact with its environment, nor a camera to see. But it was a neat little machine, and once she had programmed a spider-like auto adapt system onto it, it would revolutionize technology. Both above and below the ground.

Professor Snape was easily Kassia's least favorite teacher; it was annoying and childish the way he picked on the more self-conscious students, especially Neville Longbottom, who would have made the Cowardly Lion look ferocious. Professor McGoganall was firm and fair, and had been the one to admit Kassia onto the Quidditch team, much to her surprise. She would be playing the position of Chaser (one of the people who tried to throw the ball through he hoops at the other end of the field). Harry would be playing Seeker (the one who caught the golden Snitch and scored 150 points for their team).

Professor Quirrel was a peculiar one, very sketchy, very jumpy. He had warned the school about a troll in the building on Halloween. It just so happened that Hermione was the one to discover it in the girl's bathroom, which was rather a big problem, seeing as the troll nearly beat her to death. If it hadn't been for Harry, Kassia, and Ron, she would have been troll meat. After the troll incident, the four of them were inseparable friends. Kassia found that while Hermione was a know-it-all, she had intelligence to back up her book learning; perhaps the girl was more perceptive than she'd taken her to be. It would be the first time that had happened.

Malfoy, of course, was as insufferable. He taunted their group, mostly with rude anti-Mudblood jokes. These were generally targeted toward Hermione.

Their little "Band of Misfits", as Kassia had come to call them, had been noticing some strange goings-on. What was more; they were all linked to Professor Snape. At their first Quidditch match, for example, Harry's broom had gone completely out of control, nearly throwing him off. Hermione had seen Snape muttering a curse, and had set his robes on fire to distract him. Harry had caught the snitch, afterward, but still...definitely something to be concerned about.

Christmas this year was something that she could not meet with much enthusiasm; she had no family to celebrate it with. But Harry and Ron were staying at Hogwarts over the holidays, so at least she would have company.

Then, on Christmas Eve night, after she had wished Commander Root a Merry Christmas (and he had sufficiently insisted that he did not celebrate Mud People holidays) she had a different nightmare. Every bit of the last dream had finally fallen into place, every scream, every detail of the room...

But this one was different.

She followed Voldermort down a cobbled stone walkway. A quaint-looking house sat in front of them, its curtained windows dark. Voldermort's robe's fluttered in the breeze. The door was locked. _"Alohormora!" _Not anymore.

He made his way through the door. A young man with jet-black hair and a disheveled appearance blocked his entry to the stairwell that was his goal. _"Avada Kedevra!" _The man crumpled and was still. Voldermort glided over the man's body. Kassia stopped to examine his face. He looked so familiar...

and then she realized. The man looked just like Harry. She was witnessing his parent's murder.

She followed Voldemort up the stairs and down the hallway to the right. He opened the door to the left with a wave of his wand. The inside of the room contained baby furniture and soft blue walls. And a lady screaming hysterically.

Voldermort glided easily into the room. "Get out of my way, girl," he said softly. The lady (or, Lily Potter, Kassia supposed) continued to scream and sob, blocking Voldermort's path. "Not my son!" she cried, "Please, not Harry..."

"_Avada Kedevra!" _

Lily Potter was dead. Voldermort made his way to the baby who, at the moment, was completely oblivious to the danger he was in. Little Harry laughed for a moment, seeming to think that the man under the hood was someone else. After realizing, though, that his mother was not getting up, that the man was not lowering his hood, he began to cry. Voldemort raised his wand. _"Avada Kedevra!"_

There was a blinding flash of light. When Kassia opened her eyes, Voldemort was no more. This time, she did not forget the dream.

Kassia had never really enjoyed opening Christmas gifts. She could usually make anything she wanted for a fraction of the cost. But she was still excited when she found a little package from her parents at the foot of her bed. She had sent them a small snow globe, which was enchanted to show spectacular views of any city in the world. When she opened the package from her parents, she found a tiny box, and a note. _"Dear Kas," _the note read,

"_How are things? I know I could probably have e-mailed this to you, but Merry Christmas! Your father and I miss you very much. Will you be coming home this summer right away? I'm leaving it up to you, because I know you'll probably want to work on your 'projects'. I know that you you were working on that Spy-der last time you wrote. How is that going? Because I can get you to a very highly noted engineering society to present it after you've finished school for the year. You don't have to make the decision right away. Anyway, I'd like to say I'm sorry I can't be of more help searching for your real parents. I wish I knew but I don't, and I'm so sorry for not trusting you with the truth sooner. But I do want you to know that I love you like a daughter, and you always have a home here, should you need one. _

_Merry Christmas. _

_Love, _

_Evangeline and Carter Banks (Mom and Dad)_

Kassia set the note down on the table gingerly. She pulled a little box out of the packaging, and opened it. Inside was a beautiful necklace. The chain was long; it would hang to about her belly button. The pendant was a bird, its wings stretched far, about to take flight. Kassia dressed, slipped the pendant over her head (she wore the pendant every day since this), and went down to the common room, where Ron was admiring Harry's new invisibility cloak.

They used the cloak to get into all sorts of trouble. They slunk around the castle underneath it, trying to solve what Kassia called the "Snape mystery". They had known from the beginning that Snape (or someone else, Kassia had argued) was after Harry. For what reason, they didn't know. Kassia could see many possibilities to ponder, but one thing was for sure; it had something to do with what was on the third floor corridor, one of the only places that they were off limits.

Harry had found a curious mirror in a secret room that, when you looked into it, showed your desires. On the sides of the mirror, this was written: "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. This had made no sense of course, until Kassia got an idea. She wrote the message on a piece of paper and stood in front of a regular mirror. Now, it read _I show not your face but your hearts desire_. Which they already knew; Harry had seen himself reunited with his family, Ron had seen himself as Head Boy, and Kassia had seen herself receiving the Nobel Piece Prize.

Ron taught them how to play wizard chess. It was exactly like regular chess, but the pieces were alive. They beat each other up and criticized you when you made a mistake. Of course, they never had an opportunity to criticize Kassia, so it didn't bother her.

One day, on their way to class, they (the Band of Misfits, that is) were caught on a moving staircase as it was...moving. So as to not be caught on it again, they rushed up the stairs and, as the staircase moved back into place, realized where they were. The third floor corridor.

Being curious as they were, they decided to explore what was there. To their dismay, however, the door was locked. Until Kassia pulled out her wand. She tapped the door handle once and said _"Alohormora". _Her friends stared at her incredulously, but slipped through the door without saying a word.

Inside there was a sleeping monster. It was a huge dog with three heads. And it was staring at them. Immediately, they raced back through the door and straight to class. Since she had nothing more productive to do anyway, Kassia brainstormed what the dog could possibly be guarding. And then it hit her. Harry had mentioned that he saw Hargid sneaking off while he was in his vault, saying that he was on official Hogwarts business. Later that day, there was an attempted robbery at Gringotts, but nothing was taken. So that _had _to mean that Hagrid knew something.

Once Kassia had explained this to the others, they immediately blamed Snape for the robbery. This is where she cut them off, explaining that they could not jump to that particular conclusion yet. They had to have solid evidence first.

They paid Hagrid a visit that night. He had a dragon egg in his cabin. He had bought it, he said, from a stranger in a tavern in Hogsmeade, a nearby village. The man was cloaked, and Hagrid never saw his face. The man, according to Hagrid, was very interested in the three-headed dog (apparently named Fluffy). Hagrid had told him that music put him right to sleep. Kassia groaned internally.

Hagrid didn't have much to say as far as the third floor corridor was concerned. But he did let something slip about Nicholas Flamel. Kassia made a mental note to research him later.

Just as they rose to leave, they saw a face in the window. Malfoy's.

Proffessor McGoganall was waiting for them in the entryway. She deducted 50 points from Gryffindor for each of them (points were awarded and deducted throughout the year to each house for positive and negative behaviors) and 50 points from Slytherin, as Malfoy had been out of bed after hours as well. All of them had to serve detention the next night.

Their detention was a strange one; they were to follow Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest to search for dead unicorns. It was a very sad sight; unicorns were beautiful, even their blood was. They split up, eventually. Harry, Malfoy, Fang (Hagrid's huge dog), and Kassia went to the left. Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione went to the right.

After a while of searching they came across a unicorn corpse. And something was hunched over it, drinking its blood. The thing looked up (it appeared to resemble a human in a cloak) and began to advance toward them. Malfoy screamed and ran. Harry remained rooted to the spot. Kassia screamed his name and pulled him away from the thing, just as a centaur ran in front of them and reared up, startling the thing away. He turned toward them, and asked "Are you all right?"

They nodded mutely. Hagrid came to them a few minutes later, greeting the beautiful centaur and introducing him as Firenze. They waved goodbye to Firenze and made their way quickly out of the forest.

Finally, the mystery was solved. Nicholas Flamel was the alleged owner of the Sorcerer's Stone, a very powerful object that granted the owner eternal life and wealth. That meant that the object that the culprit was after was the Sorcerer's Stone. And the culprit had to live off of unicorn blood, a substance that would sustain you, but only just. Which meant that the culprit, the one causing Harry's broom incident, the one who let in the troll, the one that they had seen in the forest, was someone terribly desperate. Someone evil and cruel. Someone so weak that they had to resort to unicorn blood for sustainability. Someone like Lord Voldermort.


	5. Chapter 5

**Приветствую вас всех! (Cookies to anyone who can tell me what this means and what language it's in). Anyway, thanks for stopping. This will be the last chapter for a little while where Kassia is at Hogwarts. Enjoy, and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! (hint hint) :)**

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Kassia knew exactly when the thief was going to make their move. How did she know this? Perhaps it was the fact that the headmaster suddenly left on urgent ministry business because of an anonymous note that never actually stated what said "business"was. So it was glaringly obvious, to Kassia, at least,f that the thief planned to strike tonight.

During class that day, she mentally prepared to face Voldermort, and whatever accomplice he was working with. In her mind, she flicked through the possibilities; she immediately eliminated Professors McGoganall and Flitwick. She hadn't known Flitwick very well, but she knew that he was very good friends with Professor Dumbledore. Knowing the headmaster from the few conversations she'd had with him (mostly about her most recent dream) she, for the most part, trusted his judgment. But when she tried to tell him about their suspicions, he interrupted her; suddenly, he had "Hogwarts business of the utmost importance."

There were other Professors, of course - one for Herbology, one for Mathematics, one for Wizarding Literature, among others – but they, in Kassia's mind, were not particularity noteworthy. And then there were the two others, Quill and Snape, who were her prime suspects. Hermione, Harry, and Ron were; dead-set on Snape. They would have to wait and see.

That night, they slipped out of bed and into the common room. There, the shy kid, Neville, tried to keep them from leaving. Hermione used the _Pertrificus Totalis _charm (the petrification charm) to disable him. "Sorry," each of them whispered to him as they scampered past his statue-like form.

Their group slipped out of the Gryffindor common room and under the invisibility cloak. The Fat Lady (the portrait that guarded the Gryffindor common room) was snoozing in her frame.

Finally, they reached the third floor corridor. "_Alohormora!"_Kassia whispered. The door was open. As soon as they entered the room, they heard beautiful harp playing coming from...somewhere. Then, Kassia spotted it. There, in the corner, was the enchanted harp.

The giant dog was asleep in the middle of the room. And right underneath its paw, barely visible, was a trapdoor.

The children hurried over to the dog's paw and gently began pushing it off of the door. _"So the thief got here first," _Kassia thought. _"Interesting." _

Finally, they managed to remove the paw from the trapdoor. But as they were opening it, Kassia noticed something peculiar. The harp had stopped playing. _"Uh oh..." _

One of the dog's six massive eyes snapped open in front of her. They screamed as the dog began to rise up on all fours and growl, shaking the ground beneath them. They had no choice but to leap through the trapdoor.

They fell for what seemed like an eternity. Then they landed in a deadly plant. The ropy, tendril-like vines wrapped themselves around their waists and chests, hugging them tightly against a soft, squishy membrane. Kassia knew right away what it was. "Devil's Snare!" Hermione announced. "Don't move, or it'll kill you faster!" Kassia finished.

Ron looked at her incredulously. "Kill us faster!? How is that supposed to help us?"

Kassia rolled her eyes. "Ron, you blethering imbecile, just _do as we say_!"

After a few more minutes of sitting absolutely still as a killer plant tried to squish her lungs out, the plant let her go. Hermione and Harry landed next to her. But since Ron had not stopped moving, he was still trapped within the plant's clutches.

Kassia had an idea (surprise, surprise). She held up her wand and said _"Lumos Maxima!" _A brilliant light was expelled from the tip of her wand. The plant above them recoiled, and Ron was released dangerously close to Harry's head.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Devil's Snare hates sunlight. Nearly forgot..."

The next few rooms were filled with various challenges. The next room was filled with little flying keys. In the middle of the room, a broom floated. The object, they figured, was to get the key that unlocked the door at the end of the room.

Harry volunteered. He hopped on the broom, and instantly the keys swarmed him. "Harry, there!" Hermione shouted, pointing to a key with a broken wing. "Well spotted," Kassia whispered to her. Hermione smiled.

Harry snatched the silver key out of the air. He hopped off of the broom even though it had barely reached the ground (earning a gasp from Hermione) and jammed the key into the lock. They filed through to find...a chessboard, filled with _huge _chess pieces.

They tried to cross the board, but as soon as they did, various pieces blocked their path. "We have to play," Harry whispered. The other three nodded. "I think Ron should lead us," Kassia said. When they all gaped at her, she blushed a bit and muttered "He's more familiar with the game, so he should lead it..."

Ron shook his head. "No, you should lead us, Kas. You're more...umm.."

"Strategically adept," Kassia finished for him. She nodded. "Maybe so. But...this is what you want to do, right? And we'll help you out, if need be." She gave him an encouraging smile. He nodded gratefully at her.

What exactly had possessed her to do that? Guilt. She hadn't given anyone else the opportunity to contribute to this little misadventure; she'd had all the answers, solved all of the questions. But now it was someone else's turn.

She was changing. Before this school year, she wouldn't have accepted help from anyone; help or kindness or compassion or pity. She was bitter at her foster parents, even though she tried her best not to show it. She was angry at her real parents, because they had left her with nothing but a bank vault and questions with no answers. She was jealous of the other children here (except perhaps Harry) who'd had normal wizard _or _Muggle lives, who didn't have to live with the responsibilities of being a child prodigy. But something that she had realized throughout this school year was that, ultimately, it_ was __her _decision. All right, so she wanted to break off from her foster parents in search of her real parents. Was it her fault that her real parents had left her with nothing? No. Was it her decision to harp on it? Yes. What was the definition of a normal life? There wasn't one. But even if her life was out-of-the-ordinary, she wouldn't have it any other way. She would change the world because that was what she was meant to do. She would work to change it for the better. And that, ultimately, had been the biggest accomplishment of this year; she had discovered herself.

She wasDr. Kassia Rene Anastasia Grace Annette. She was brave enough to be strong, but soft enough to be compassionate. She was deadly and wonderfully clever (depending on whether or not you were on her good side...). A genius? Absolutely. A prodigy? Unquestionably. An individual? Most certainly. She was no longer afraid of friendship.

And so, when Ron took charge of the chess match, she was not controlling or overbearing.

As they began to explore the chess board, they took note of several things. One; the pieces were from a wizard chess set. Two; The pieces of wizard chess sets beat each other to bits. Three; there were four empty slots where there should be white pieces. So they had to...oh. _"This could get deadly," _Kassia thought.

Harry and Kassia took their positions as Bishops, Hermione filled in as a Rook, and Ron was the Knight, mounting a tall stone horse proudly. The game progressed surprisingly smoothly, and Kassia did not intervene. So when Ron sacrificed himself so that they could go on, she felt incredibly guilty.

The queen was the only thing blocking their way to the king. And Ron was the only thing within the queen's reach. As soon as Kassia saw this (and the others saw this eventually as well) she began to shout at him in protest. "No," Ron argued. "If the queen takes me, that'll give you or Harry a straight path to the king. It's the only way we'll move on." Kassia nodded glumly. Unfortunately, he was right.

The queen approached Ron slowly. As she drew nearer, she drew a long, steel sword with the sound of metal on metal. And then she stabbed Ron's horse. Little bits of debris flew everywhere. Ron crashed to the ground, knocking his head on the marble floor. He was still.

Harry finished the game for them. "Check mate!" he called up to the giant stone king. He dropped his sword.

Immediately, the three of them rushed over to where Ron lay. Hermione was crying. Kassia, having had the most medical experience, took his pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found one. "Weak, but it's still there," she said to the other two.

"I'll stay behind," Hermione murmured, almost too quiet to hear.

When Kassia began to protest, Hermione held up a hand. "No, Kas, you should go with Harry. You're the better witch."

At that, Kassia frowned deeply. "Hermione, why would you say that?"

Hermione sighed. "Because it's true. You have better marks in all of the classes, and you hardly have to try at all. You're just..." She sighed and sat down on a broken boulder of marble.

Kassia sat next to her. "I don't think I'm the better witch, I really don't." She smiled. "Hermione, you're the most ambitious, kind, honest, clever, studious person I've ever met. You're one of the only people I can actually _relate _to. I've never had a sister, but if I had one, I'd want her to be just like you." Her voice became softer as she said the last sentence.

And then they hugged and laughed and broke apart and said goodbye. Kassia would be going on.

They passed through a dark tunnel. They nearly ran into the unconscious troll.

"It seems the thief has done us the courtesy of taking care of the troll for us," Kassia said pensively as they passed through a large stone archway.

In the next room, they found a table set with 7 variously-sized bottles and a little note. As they crossed into the room, a purple fire erupted in the place where the archway had been. On the opposite wall, another archway stood, blocked by crackling black flames.

Kassia sighed and made her way over to the table. She plucked it off the wooden surface and read it aloud.

"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."

After a few minutes of standing there, muttering to herself, Kassia came to a conclusion. She made her way to the very end of the table, and pointed to each bottle one by one, moving from right to left. "Poison, nettle wine, potion that moves you back, poison, poison, nettle wine, and..." she snatched up the little bottle on the end and grinned triumphantly. "The potion that will move us forward." She shook her head and smiled. "A logic puzzle. And not the easiest one, either. No doubt that all of this was Dumbledore's doing."

She and Harry took a sip of the potion. When they stepped into the black flames, nothing happened. Thank goodness.

The final room was grand and circular, with stone columns marching around it. It sloped downward, with step-like structures leading to the center. And there sat the Mirror of Erised. And a person.

They (it was a man, Kassia could tell) turned to face them. Professor Quirell smiled politely back at Harry's appalled expression and Kassia's calculating one. "Hello, children," he said politely.

"You?" Harry shouted, surprised.

"Yes, idiot boy, it was me, the whole year, trying to kill you at the match, the troll, it was me!" Quirrell retorted. He smiled maliciously at Kassia. "But you've known, haven't you young lady?"

Kassia nodded confidently. "Yes, _Professor_, I had guessed previously who the thief was. While Snape was an...optimal choice, you were certainly shifty enough that I considered you a prime suspect." She smiled serenely. "And, imagine that, I was correct."

Quirrell rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of nowhere, binding Harry and Kassia in place. Kassia cursed in Latin (and no, I'm not at liberty to tell you what she said). Quirell gazed at them for another few seconds, then turned back to the mirror. " I just don't understand! Why won't the stone appear to me?!" he shouted. A small raspy noise filled the otherwise silent space. Quirrell shook his head vigorously. "No master, the boy won't-" He was cut off by the rasping noise.

"_A voice," _Kassia realized. "_He's listening to a voice, coming from somewhere nearby...from him? But who...uh-oh," _Kassia thought as the truth finally hit her. She turned to Harry frantically. "Harry, we have to-" And then Quirrell coughed, silencing her abruptly. "Come here, Potter!" he shouted to Harry. Harry looked down at his bound body. "Umm..."

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Quirrell spat. With a wave of his hand, Harry was free. Harry, thankfully, had enough sense not to try and run. As he made his way down the giant steps, Kassia began to plan. She could not escape from the ropes, unless she tricked Quirrell into letting her go, which was not exactly likely...then again, if he'd wanted her dead, she would be, right? So if he wanted her for something...ugh. This was going to be difficult.

Harry reached the bottom of the stairs, going, Kassia noticed, at a much slower pace than normal. "Stand here!" Quirrell commanded, gesturing in front of the mirror. "Now, Potter, what do you see?"

Harry gazed into the mirror intently. "I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. I've just won the Quidditch Cup," he said timidly. The same raspy voice, still indecipherable, rang throughout the room. Harry stiffened next to Quirrell. _"He knows who it is." _Kassia thought. Then, Quirrell spoke, or, more shouted, "No, master, you are not strong enough!" There was a reply from the voice. Then, with shaky hands, Quirrell removed his turban.

Underneath, on the back of his head, was a face. It was gruesomely-shaped; slits for nostrils, barely-open, scarlet eyes, and a slash for a mouth. It was Voldermort, in a very weak state.

Voldermort turned to Harry, smiling (well, trying, anyway) maliciously. "Harry," he said, his voice no longer muffled by the turban, "it has been many years since my downfall. And you brought it about, Harry, because you were stronger than I."

Immediately, Kassia knew what he was doing. She had to warn him, but then Voldermort turned to her, and her heartbeat stopped.

"Kassia," he murmured, then chuckled at her shocked face. "Yes, girl, I knew you when you were young. Very young, in fact, I have known you your entire life." Kassia's gaze changed from one of shock to one of disgust. "You don't mean-" Voldermort's icy gaze silenced her. "Quirrell, undo her bonds so that she may join in her father's glory."

And that statement nearly sent her over the edge. She had literally _just _come to terms with being an orphan, she was looking forward to the challenge of finding her real parents. She had imagined, many times, who her parents could be (it helped to have a wild imagination). But now, to find out that father was the most murderous and dangerous wizard of the age, possibly in history...the very idea was impossible.

But it was true.

The ropes fell away around her and she made her way mechanically down the steps. She stood resolutely next to Harry, he face hard. She held held her chin high. "Unfortunately, father (she spat the word as if it was an insult), I will not be joining you. You see, I make it a point not to side with ego-maniacal, murderous lunatics."

Voldermort's face morphed from cocky to livid. "Young lady, get over here immediately, this is no time to be acting like a child! I am aware of your intellectual potential, and _demand _that you stand beside me at once!"

Kassia frowned patronizingly. "Are you finished?" she asked mockingly. "With your tantrum," she clarified when Voldermort gave her a blank stare. "And you say _I'm _acting like a child..."

"Ugh, never mind, you wretched girl!" Quirrell spat, whirling on her. "Empty your pockets, Potter!" Voldermort said from the back of his head.

Harry timidly pulled out a beautiful stone, ruby red and completely smooth. Quirrell smiled wickedly. Give it to me!" he yelled. He leaped toward Harry, forgetting for the moment that he had a wand. Kassia leaped in front of him, trying to shield Harry. "Run!" she screamed to him. "Get the Stone out of he-" she was cut off as Quirrell yanked out his want and pointed it at her. "Get out of my way, girl," he said calmly, but with malice, "or you-"

"No Quirrell." Voldermort interrupted. He was facing her again. "Kassia, I can give you a proper family. I know you've been raised by Muggles for many years now. It has probably been difficult to understand your gifts. But let me promise you, Kassia, that I can provide. I have many followers that will attend to your every wish. You can help me to create the brave new world that I envision. But if you decline my offer, you will suffer greatly. You, inevitably, _will _join me, Kassia, but for now, I will give you a choice in the matter." He turned to face Harry. "And you, Harry, I offer you the same. You haven't a proper family, either. But when my plans become a reality, and you are a part of it...think of it Harry, helping to shape a better world. Do you want to see your parents again? We can bring them back, I can show you! All you have to do..." Harry now stood at Kassia's shoulder, clutching the Stone, "is give that to me."

Harry, shook his head. "FOR THIS YOU WILL DIE, POTTER!" Voldermort screamed as Quirrell lunged for the Stone. Kassia blocked Harry yet again. But this time, Quirrell tried to push her out of the way. She pushed forward, but she was not physically strong. He shoved her roughly out of the way, and as she fell toward the ground, she heard a loud _snap! _She had just enough time to utter a curse in Cantonese before she hit the ground, her hands barley stopping her fall. The last thing she saw before her head hit the stone floor was Quirrell's skin disintegrating into ash.

She woke up in the infirmary. Dumbledore sat at the foot of her bed. When she stirred, he looked at her with concern. Her various aches were coming to her along with her consciousness; the snap that she'd heard had been her ankle, which was now wrapped up in a bandage and throbbing dully. Her head ached piercingly. When she groaned in pain, Dumbledore began to motion over the nurse, Madame Pomphery. Kassia shook her head and waved her away. She had to talk to Dumbledore. Pronto.

Before she could utter a word, Dumbledore was already speaking to her. "I understand the four of you went through a tremendous ordeal last night," he said, "And while I'm sure you'd like to push it to the back of your mind, I was very much hoping that you could speak to me about what happened."

Kassia shook her head dismissively. "No, that's all right, I was actually going to request to see you about it anyway." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "We got through all of the rooms well enough; I trust you were aware of all the obstacles?"

Dumbledore nodded. "It is incredible that you made it through all seven tasks alive," Dumbledore mused. "Do you know why there were seven obstacles, Kassia?"

She nodded. "Seven is the most magical number."

"Indeed it is. Now, you were saying?"

Kassia continued. "Ron was inured in the chess room, and Hermione stayed with him. I went with Harry to the next three rooms; the troll, the potions, and the mirror. But Quirrell was waiting for us in the last room, and he had Voldermort attached to the back of his head. And, when Harry stood in front of the mirror, the stone appeared in his pocket; as far as that goes, I was wondering, why?"

Dumbledore smiled. It would only give itself to someone who wanted it, but did not intend to _use _it."

Kassia nodded appreciativley, and smirked a bit. "Sort of made it Voldermort-proof," she muttered. She coughed awkwardly at her little joke, then continued. Anyway, Quirrel tried to hurt attack Harry, and _I _ tried to keep Quirrell from getting to him, but he pushed me down, and the last thing I remember was Quirrell...turning to ashes." She finished, breathless. "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to ramble. But Voldermort told me something else."

"Sir, when I was in the last room, Voldermort told me...well, he said that...he's my father."

Dumbledore knit his eyebrows together pensively, stroking his long, white beard. He sighed and said "Well, I suppose he could be telling the truth. As to how, or _why _he of all people has a daughter...that is beyond me. But we can be sure that his motives were to use you as a weapon." upon seeing her frightened expression, he softened his intense gaze. "You, Kassia, are an incredibly powerful witch. You will most definitely have the ability to become as powerful as him; you will probably even surpass him. But he will try to pull yo to his side. Voldermort is not dead. We must stay on our toes, or he may catch us by surprise, which would be dangerous, deadly. But something to remember," he said, taking her hand gently, "Is that, even if Voldermort is your father - we can assume that he _is _based on the fact that he told you – that does not mean that you need to be like him. It will definitely affect your fate, being his daughter, but we have yet to see, for now, exactly what your fate _is_." He gave her a small, crinkly-eyed smile. "Now, I must check on the progress of our other patient. Rest well, Kassia." And then he was gone.

The rest of the year (only two more weeks) were dull, especially after having so many near-death experiences. The four of them (Kassia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione) were closer then ever; again, it was probably affected by the near-death experiences.

At the end-of-the-year feast, the Great Hall was decorated with green and silver banners, to celebrate Slytherin's victory; they had won the House cup, with 472 points. The Gryffindors, on the other hand, had come in last with 342 points; an incredible defeat, as even Hufflepuff was beating them with 357 points.

But then, there had been a pleasant surprise as Dumbledore had announced some "last-minute" (and totally coincidental) points; they had ended up winning the House Cup after all, with 282 points.

On the train home, Kassia read her e-mails. It had been quite a while since she had checked them. As she was typing responses to various investors (all of whom were very interested in her Spy-der device) a new message popped up on the top of the screen.

It was in Gnomish, and marked as urgent. Kassia knew what it was right away. Her first mission. She read through the e-mail quickly.

_Kassia, _

_The organization is in need of your assistance. An representative will be awaiting your arrival at the station to escort you to the launch site, where you will receive your debriefing on the mission. I'm afraid I cannot provide you with any more information than is in this letter. Be on the alert; our target is most likely hacking into your computer as we speak. Be careful. _

_The Commander_

The launch site. After a bit of digging, Kassia was able to pinpoint the location of the sent e-mail. Fowl Manor was her next destination. She folded her laptop and put it in her bag. For the rest of the trip, she made amicable chatter with the other three. Her head was far away from the train, though, wondering what on _earth _Artemis Fowl had done to upset the fairy people.

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**So just some notes on this chapter: while it _was _kind of meant to be a bit of a climax, I also intended to make it a bit of a character development chapter; i.e. developing Kassia's relationship with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with her father, with Dumbledore. I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review. I know I nag about it like there's no tomorrow, but it really is important. I really would like to know if I'm doing an awesome job or a terrible job or a so-so job...please just let me know! Do you have a fanfic that you want me to read? Awesome, send me a PM or put it in the reviews. What I'm saying is please please please review! (In case you didn't catch that earlier) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Finally, Artemis is in the story! This chapter is a lot more exciting than my other ones, so I hope you enjoy it! I will warn you, it's pretty evil...but you guys can handle it, right? **

**-Seshat**

***This is an edit of Chapter 6, because I noticed a few irksome errors in my information. **

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Kassia was supposed to meet a fairy representative near the 9-11 Entrance. They were scheduled to meet at 3:00 pm. Kassia checked the clock on her phone. 3:37 pm. She sighed. What could possibly be holding them up? Then, just as she was about to call the Commander to inform him of the representative's absence, she noticed a peculiar, shimmering mirage in front of a nearby streetlamp. She made her way over to it, and muttered "You're late," in an almost inaudible voice. The mirage flicked her on the shoulder, then moved to her left, down the busy London street. Kassia hauled her trunks after it, until it finally stopped in a discreet, empty alleyway.

Immediately after stopping in the alley, the fairy materialized. "You need to work on your shielding," Kassia said. "I could see you quite clearly." The fairy scowled.

"Well I _was _going to introduce myself politely, but now that you've insulted my magic..." the elf said, "The name's Trouble Kelp, mudgirl. Now get in the pod."

The pod was small, sleek, and extremely uncomfortable. It was designed much like a human car, but with much more sophisticated sensors and monitors on the dashboard. The driver was literally aware of everything going on around them.

They made good time, reaching Ireland in only a few hours. Kassia did not mention, of course, that she knew exactly where they were going. In fact, she made a point of acting surprised when Trouble landed the pod on the lawn of Fowl Manor. It wouldn't do for her allies to find out that she had hacked into all of their systems.

Kassia and Trouble made their way across the lawn to where the Commander stood waiting, his perma-scowl as evident as ever. "Hurry it up!" he shouted to them. Standing around him were several other ranking officers. But one was missing. "Where is-" Kassia began. Her words were cut short when Root held up his hand.

"Holly has been abducted by Artemis Fowl," he said simply. Kassia arched her eyebrows.

"Let me guess, he'll release her, but for a ridiculously large ransom, correct?" When Root eyed her suspiciously, she continued, "I know of the Fowl crime empire, and I know human businessman," she said simply.

Root grunted and continued. "We've formulated a plan, and-" before Root could finish, Kassia held up her hand, and muttered, "Check for bugs." When no one moved, she barked, "Do it!"

The fairies scrambled across the lawn and around their base, frantic to find the "bugs". When a security check by Foaly (the centaur techy for the LEP) revealed none, Kassia rolled her eyes. She made her way over to his beloved computers and began tapping away. Soon, the locations of five different bugging sources popped up onto the screen. With a smug look at Foaly, Kassia made her way around the yard, making quick work of disabling every source of the bugging.

She made her way back to the Commander.

"All of the bugs have been disabled, sir. It seems Fowl had managed to breach your 'security' system," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "he was listening in to your conversations using various sources throughout the base - ingenious, really. Unfortunately for you, this means that any plans you had must now be considered irrelevant."

Root's face went from cherry red to an interesting shade of purple. "You mean we've spent all night planning, along with sending in an entire crew that ended up being incapacitated by Fowl's body guard, only to find out that all of it was for nothing! We get a very small window to deploy the time stop. Now we have to come up with yet another plan-"

Kassia put her index finger to her lips, and he was silent. "On the contrary, Commander Root, " she murmured, "I believe that all of the planning has been done for you."

"By who?"

She smiled maliciously. "By me, of course."

* * *

Kassia was inside Fowl manor. She did not bother to cloak herself in any way; it wouldn't be necessary. She had managed to hijack the entire Fowl security system, using a combination of computer skills and magic (something unheard of in the wizarding world).

Now, all that was left was to carry out her plan.

She slipped silently, cat-like, through the house. She was dressed to carry out this specific mission – in boots with soles that absorbed shock and noise, with a fitted black t-shirt woven with Kevlar (this was a fabric of her own design), and polka-dot pajama pants (for comfort, obviously). Her hair was tied up in a simple knot, and a strand of it barely concealed the earpiece through which she communicated with the LEP. Her wand arm, her left, was poised and ready to strike. She had learned some useful spells over the course of her year at Hogwarts (most of them on her own time). She could stun or severely injure anyone. She knew how to duel and how to erase memories, how to use charms and spells and (admittedly) curses. She was well-armed.

The only sounds she heard for a while were her erratic heartbeat and her shallow breathing. As far as they knew, there were only four people in the house (five if you counted Holly as a person); Artemis Fowl II, Butler (his bodyguard), Juliet (Butler's sister), and Angeline Fowl (Artemis's not-entirely-sane mother).

It had seemed a simple enough task; she would slip through the most obvious doorway, the front one, where she would begin smashing things violently. By then, Fowl would have caught on that his security system had been breached, and send Butler and Juliet to resolve the matter. Kassia would incapacitate them instantly with a simple _Petrificus Totalus_spell, then make her way through the house to deal with Fowl separately.

At least, that was the way it was _supposed _to happen.

Instead, she pointed her wand at various objects in the entrance hall for more than twenty minutes, until Foaly spoke in her earpiece, "_All right, mudgirl, time to move on." _She nodded, then remembered that nodding made no audible sound. "Sure, Foaly," she whispered.

As she stepped out of the entrance hall, she took the earpiece from her ear, set in on the ground, and stomped on it, hard. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She left the mess there for Fowl to clean up.

Butler, the large man, came from around the corner. He glared at her, apparently prepared to charge.

"_He thinks I'm a fairy," _Kassia thought. She pointed her wand at him and whispered _"Petrificus Totalus_."

A jet of blue light shot out of her wand and hit Butler squarely in the chest. He froze in place. He didn't even have enough time for a shocked expression to register on his face. _  
_

As Kassia made her way down the hallway and into the kitchen, she heard a noise behind her. It took her a moment to realize that someone was following her. A moment too many. Before she could react, a hand shot out and wrapped itself around her face. A rag was pressed to her nose. It only took Kassia a moment to know what it was, and by then she was nearly unconscious. _"Chloroform," _she thought to herself, _"how utterly orthodox." _

And then she was out. Cold.

* * *

**Artemis's POV **

He knew something was amiss when he heard the crashing noises.

The monitors in front of him, however, remained peaceful; according to _them, _nothing there was nothing on the first floor to cause the ruckus. He came to the immediate conclusion that someone had hacked into his security system; how _anyone _could have done this, even the fairy people, was, for the moment, beyond him.

He sent Butler and Juliet down to the entrance hall to take control of the situation. He expected them to be back in approximately fifteen minutes with a full report on the attack. What he did _not _expect was for Juliet to appear at the door, carrying a girl wearing ghastly pajama pants and carrying a stick.

He motioned to a folding metal chair in the corner of the room.

Juliet set to work tying the girl to the chair, making sure she was securely in place. Artemis noted her irregularly eccentric precaution – noteworthy only because of Juliet's usual recklessness. This would imply that this girl was to be observed; if she was threatening to Juliet, she would be deadly for _him. _

After the ropes had been checked over by Juliet multiple times, she wrenched the stick out of the captive girl's hand and gave it carefully to Artemis. "Be careful with that," she warned. "Now I'll have to go see to Butler..."

"He's been injured, then. By the girl," Artemis declared more than asked.

Juliet nodded. "That _thing_," she said, referring to the stick, "shot out this...light, and then he just crumpled." She shook her head disbelievingly. "I'd have thought it was a tazer, but she was pretty far away when she fired it at him. And she left something in the hallway, the one between the entrance hall and the kitchen. It looked to be some kind of fairy technology. I figured you'd be interested." With that, she turned on her heel and marched out the door.

Artemis paced, and pondered what it could all _mean_; this girl was _not _a fairy, as she was far too tall, and looked to be about his age. She was lithe and black-haired, with soft, teardrop-shaped face and big eyes. She had an unnerving, rebel demeanor; for whatever reason, she set him on edge. Juliet had been correct in her apprehension about this girl.

Artemis began to study the stick more closely. It appeared to be made of Elder wood, and intricate carvings formed what appeared to be a handle on one end. When he waved it nothing happened. Then, he realized...this was a wand. Which made the girl in the chair a witch.

He dashed to his computer, quickly searching for any reference he could to folklore pertaining witches. It was a long and tedious process; many of the articles he came across were biased by fearful new world villagers or written by (seemingly) lunatics ranting about entirely too-spectacular accounts of magic. He _did _run across several sites, however, that had the potential to provide him with valuable information. These, unfortunately, were blocked. He tried unsuccessfully to access these websites (which came as a surprise to him, as he had never failed to get past a firewall). But now he knew something else about this girl, and, in fact, wizards in general; they were at least as technologically advanced as the People.

Suddenly, the witch began to stir. Artemis turned to find her still asleep, but cringing in agony. Her eyes flew open, and she let loose a horrifying scream.

* * *

**Kassia's POV**

She woke up standing in middle of her bedroom. Light streamed through the windows at the other end. It was a fairly small space, as she only used it for sleeping and dressing. The walls were painted a light, minty green, and nearly completely bare; the few decorations included heavy beige curtains on the windows, a painting of a bird taking flight, and her "quote collage" (a piece of canvas that she used to write down her favorite quotes).

Her favorite feature of her room, though, was the view; it overlooked a gorgeous, secluded valley in Central Valley California. Wildflowers, much different from the ones by the upstate New York cabin, made up the valley floor; these flowers made the valley appear on fire, with vibrant oranges and yellows and purples. Mountains rose in the background. They were jagged and colored a neutral beige tone, the still-pink morning sun adding to the "fire" effect.

She made her way down the hallway to her study, eyes flicking to each painting on the walls. Her mother was a talented artist, a world-renowned one, and a collector of "masterpieces". Many of the paintings were purchased at various art fairs in order to "support local craftspeople".

The study boasted a view equally spectacular to that of the bedroom. She hadn't the slightest idea what had made her come here; it was, of course, a comforting space, with her cluttered worktables covered with projects in various stages, monitors that blinked with dialogue, reporting world news in several different languages, musical instruments of all different kinds, and, of course, bookshelves, covering the charming yellow wallpaper. It was easily her favorite place to be, the most wonderful...

Suddenly, a chilling wind blew through the room. The soft glow of the morning sun disappeared as the drapes snapped shut; the cheery light was replaced by an eerie glow and the shriek of the ominous wind. And then the voice spoke.

"_Is this where little Kassia grew up? Such a large, lovely house it is. Why the view is magnificent, the rooms are well-adorned...but there is a problem..." _

It was hard to pinpoint the voice; it seemed to be coming from everywhere. It also seemed familiar...where could she have heard it before?

"_This house reeks of Muggles, child," _the voice continued, _"which is a _very_ big problem. Muggles are dirty, nasty beings, Kassia, and they ought to be...tended to." _

The wind picked up again, rushing through her hair, with a sensation like cold fingers, and then the study door blew open.

"_This way, child," _the voice said, _" Your father is waiting..." _

Voldermort! This was Voldemort's voice speaking to her...but this had to be a dream. It had to be. Her parents! Her parents were in danger! But if it was a dream...

The wind pushed her forward, forcing her down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the grand living room. There her parents sat, on the couch, having tea with a man in a cloak. She screamed, screamed at them to get away, told the man to leave them alone...but they did not hear her.

"_I am sorry, Kassia," _Voldermort said. He materialized next to her, his scarlet eyes boring into hers. He clamped a hand on her shoulder, fixing her in place. "Now, you will see the consequences of your choice. I told you that you could join me of free will...but it is too late for that now. Now, I must send my servants to hurt the ones you love..."

Kassia watched in horror as the cloaked man rose, pointing his wand at her stunned foster father. He was a handsome man; black hair, styled nicely, and friendly green eyes. Now, he was pressed against the couch cringing in fear. The cloaked man screamed _Crucio! _Mr. Banks crumpled to the ground, writhing, crying, pleading...and Kassia could do nothing, say nothing, to the man that had raised her, that she had believed to be her father for so long...and then, after what seemed like an eternity of suffering, his life was ended in a single flash of green light.

Kassia's mother was frozen throughout the murder, her strong, callused hand clamped over her mouth, barley stifling a scream; the other hand yanked at her honey-blonde hair, once in a perfect bun, now strewn about her face. When the cloaked man turned to her, she did not move. Her chocolate eyes stayed fixedly on her dead husband, until the man used the Cruciatus curse on her; she writhed and twisted and sobbed until her corpse lay next to her husband's. Perfectly cold and still. Dead.

By now, Kassia had sunk to the ground, sobbing into her knees, rocking back and forth. Her wails were loud and ugly and pitiful. They took hours to subside.

Her father waited patiently next to her, still standing, seeming to drink in her sorrow. When her head finally raised from her knees, he spoke.

"I was going to kill them anyway, Kassia. But I thought it might serve as a good lesson to you. Do not defy your father again, or you will be punished. You will suffer very greatly if you do not give in. But obey me, and yo will see how merciful I am." He smiled grotesquely and knelt beside her. He put one arm awkwardly around her, and shushed his still-whimpering daughter.

After a few seconds of awkwardness, Kassia flew back from him, kicking and screaming. "No!" she screamed. "NONONONONO! Do not touch me, you maniac, get away from me! You killed them! You killed them!" She was dreaming...she was dreaming and he was keeping her there, she had to get out, before he hurt someone else...

And then she woke up. She was tied to a folding metal chair in some sort of lab; various monitors and screens were placed throughout the space. But the features of the room were blurred...she was crying.

A boy spoke up.

"A bad dream, I assume?" he said in a pompous, slightly-lilted voice. She nodded in response, not trusting herself to speak.

"Might I ask what the dream was about?"

When Kassia blinked her eyes clear of tears, she was able to see him clearly. His eyes were a startling blue, cold, unlike Dumbledore's, with premature wrinkles around them; she could tell they were premature because he looked to be about her age, if not a bit older. His hair was raven black and his skin was entirely the opposite, it was so pale. A vampire's smile was fixed on his face. Kassia suppressed a shudder; someone so young shouldn't be wearing an expression of such malice.

She detested him instantly.

"Artemis Fowl, I take it," she said, regaining her composure after her "episode". She gazed at him with all the coldness she could muster, trying to make it look easy; but such iciness didn't exist inside of her. Artemis's eyes shot up and his smirk broadened into a smile.

"You aren't used to being confronted, I take it."

Kassia did not respond. She tore her eyes away from his and stared daggers at the wall in front of her. She was regretting her decision to team up with this boy...but now that the plan was in motion, she had to carry it out.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked, still facing the wall.

"_I _will be asking the questions here, mademoiselle," he snapped, now pacing menacingly around her chair. The desired effect was _nearly _accomplished; seeing as he had very little muscle to speak of, he was hardly _physically _menacing; but his eyes made up for the muscle he didn't have.

"_You are multilingual, I take it_?" she asked in fluent Greek. She rose her gaze to meet his. His gaze was curious now, no longer as disturbing as before.

"Yes. I speak Greek, obviously, Spanish, Russian, and French," Artemis replied in equally flawless Spanish. He paused for a moment. Kassia suspected that he was checking for her comprehension.

"_If I am going to be his partner, I'm going to have to make him trust me," _Kassia thought to herself. _"And show him that I'm not psychotic." _

Kassia nodded, again, in response. "Me too."

Artemis stopped in front of her, hands clasped behind him, eyes boring into hers. She did not flinch. She did not look away.

He continued. "I have reason to suspect that you are of exceptional intelligence," he said, then"What is your name?"

Kassia smiled serenely. "Kassia. That is all you need know."

"What are you doing here?" Artemis asked.

"Good question."

"Are you going to answer it?"

"No."

"Fine, then. We'll move on."

"I would like to enter a partnership with you, Fowl."

Artemis raised his eyebrows and flashed his vampire smile. "And what on earth, Miss Kassia, would compel me to trust you? Why would I want you as an ally? What are your motives?"

Kassia sighed and closed her eyes. Obviously, he was going to be very hard to win over. "I wold like peace between the fairies and the humans...that is to say, _you._"

"And why is that? Does it have something to do with this?" he asked, walking over to a desk and snatching up her wand. Kassia's eyebrows shot up. "You figured it out then, did you?" she asked icily.

Artemis nodded and set the wand back on the table. "So you are a witch. There are others like you, no?"

She bit her lip.

"So there _are_ others? Do wizards exist worldwide? How do they stay so well-hidden? Why-"

"Enough, Fowl!" Kassia shouted, throwing her hands into the air. Then she realized; she was no longer tied up. The ropes that had constrained her lay on the ground, smoldering. Various lights along the walls flickered menacingly. She rose from the chair.

Artemis smirked mockingly. "Your emotions control your magic flow, then? Interesting..."

Now Fowl had started to irritate her. She glared, but kept her distance, trying to calm herself down. "Yes, Fowl. And as far as my motives go..." She sighed. "If you and the People were to fight, it could mean _war, _Artemis_._ Just imagine a _war _against these People. How it wold effect them. There aren't that many of them left. Think of it, being charged with killing off an entire _species_. Not only that but..." she trailed off and shook her head. She had just been about to give away the existence of the wizarding populace, the vastness of their civilization. She couldn't let that happen again.

Artemis merely regarded her warily. She laughed.

"You honestly think I'm going to attack you, Fowl?"

He didn't respond. After a few seconds of intense silence Artemis gave her an answer.

"Fine, then, Miss Kassia. I suppose I _do _see a point in leaving the fairy population be...for the time being. But there is one thing that you must do for me."

"And what is that?"

"Tell me about these wizards. I want to know every detail. Then, and only then, will I help you."

"Might I remind you, Fowl, that this is the _world _we will be working to save, and not just you your miserable criminal empire."

Another smile. "Then, I suppose, if the world falls into turmoil...it will be your fault for not making this deal with me. So then, do we have a deal?" He approached her and held out his hand for her to shake.

She gazed intensely into his eyes. The intense silence was unbearably loud. It was foolish, idiotic, to trust this boy. The entire fairy population would rely on him holding up this end of the bargain. It was much more efficient to just mind-wipe him now.

But something about him was intriguing...she couldn't help but think that a mind-wipe was...a bad idea. It made very little sense. She was an idiot for doing it. But her people had no alternative. If the wizards were thrown in the middle of this war, and, somehow, her father came back...no. That wouldn't happen.

She gripped Artemis Fowl's frigid hand...and shook it.

* * *

**So what did you guys think? Seriously, I'm dying to know since you guys NEVER POST REVIEWS...but yeah, I really need to know what you think so post anything PLEASE!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, come on you guys, I would really like to know what you think of this story. If you've read this far into the story, you owe me _at least _like, two or three reviews. Just sayin'. And if you're planning on following this story until the end, click the 'follow' button or the 'favorite' button. I mean, you don't have to, but if you really like the story, and you don't feel like posting a comment, then you could just...you know...favorite or follow...just to save yourself the trouble of having to find the story again. And it would make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, so...**

**Just going to give a SHOUT-OUT to Motomo, who is amazing and has commented a lot on this story. Motomo _also _has a story, this one based on Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth and it is soooo good and you should absolutely check it out. **

**So without further ado, here is the seventh chapter of Kassia's story. Bon apetite!**

**-Seshat :)**

***There were some issues with this chapter (factually) so I edited it to make it accurate. Nothing major, just different. **

* * *

"I'm going to need my wand back," Kassia muttered to Artemis as he took a seat across from her. Juliet stood in the corner, eying them warily. She obviously didn't trust Kassia yet.

"You have a plan, I take it?" Artemis asked abruptly.

Kassia nodded. "Always."

"And what if we decided not to follow your plan?" Juliet asked.

Kassia gave her a wicked smile. "Look at what happened to your brother when he tried to interfere with _one _eleven-year-old witch. Imagine what would happen if he were to get in the way of a group of highly-trained, lethal government officials."

Artemis looked indignant. He was positively _dieing _to know about the wizarding world.

"_A boy after my own heart," _Kassia thought with amusement.

"Now," Artemis said clearly, settling into his chair (an extremely high-end Pininfarina Aresline Xten, Kassia noticed), "What do you have to tell me? Answer all of my questions, or our deal is off. Which, naturally, terminates our agreement of your temporary safety and release."

Kassia sighed impatiently. "As I have already explained to you, Fowl, a war between you, that is to say humans, and the fairies would completely maraud the world. You, evidently, do not think that this pertains to you." She leaned closer. "Artemis, they are planning to use a time stop, possibly even blue rinse. They must be quite angry with you. I suggest you stick to my plan, or you and your family might not be alive _tomorrow_."

Kassia rolled her eyes at Artemis as he mocked confusion. "Come _on_, Artemis, you must know by ow that I'm not and idiot. And-"

Artemis held up his hand. "What is your IQ?" he asked.

Kassia gave him a wary look, but responded, "215."

Artemis's eyebrows shot up.

Kassia's worried expression became amused. "What is yours, Fowl?"

"214."

"Does that irritate you?"

Artemis scowled and waved his hand dismissively. "Enough!"

"You aren't used to being one-upped by a girl a year younger than you, I take it," she muttered, suppressing a giggle. Mockery was childish, she knew, but it would irritate him. Which, of course, was her goal.

Artemis rolled his eyes. "How very _American._"

At this, Kassia started. "Excuse me, Fowl, but I hardly think it appropriate to resort to insulting one's _nationality_. Age and gender disparities for pure mockery are one thing, but insulting a country is an even more inaccurate compassion."

Artemis's paper-white cheeks flushed slightly. "At any rate, it is time for the...let's call it an interview." He cleared his throat and began.

"What is your full name?" he asked.

"I don't know." Kassia responded.

"Why is that?"

"I don't know my father's real name."

"What name do you know him as?"

"Voldermort." Kassia whispered this.

"Why is it so hard for you to say?"

"Most of my people don't say it at all. They are afraid of him."

"Why?"

"He is a genius. And a psychotic, deranged, demented mass murderer."

There was a brief silence after this, during which Artemis exchanged an odd glance with her. Was is pity? Sorrow? No, that couldn't be the case, Kassia concluded. This boy was far above _that _kind of sympathy.

Their question-and-answer session went much more smoothly after this. And although she was spilling every secret she knew about her people, Kassia rather enjoyed the conversation. It was very rare to meet anyone of her intelligence, let alone anyone with _any _intelligencethat was of her age, and having such a thought-provoking conversation was...liberating.

Finally, after hours of talking (Juliet was surprisingly still alert), their conversation came to an end. In the middle of the interview, the large man, Butler, had stormed into the room. It took a very convincing argument from Artemis for him not to toss her out the third-story window at the end of the hallway.

Kassia felt hopelessly exhausted, but didn't care to admit it; she couldn't let down her guard with this Fowl boy around.

Artemis, suddenly surprisingly hospitable, offered her food and drink. Kassia nodded and combed through her hip-length hair nervously. She wasn't sure what was putting her on edge, exactly; was it the large, burly man that had stood in the corner and glowered at her for over an hour after having just threatened to kill her? Or was it the fact that all the wizarding world's secrets had been spilled to a criminal mastermind? Was she feeling guilty about betraying the LEP?

What, in fact, could possibly be setting her on edge?

Artemis sent Butler to prepare the food (which practically gave Kassia a heart attack; he seemed just the type to poison it) while Juliet went to prepare a room. Kassia was surprised at this; she had thought that she would be returning to the LEP straightaway.

Upon seeing her confusion, Artemis smiled grimly. "I figured that I would give you a comfortable place to sleep tonight, as that was probably not available at the LEP base. You are quite welcome," he added, after seeing Kassia roll her eyes.

Then his tone became more urgent. "Kassia. I presume now is time for us to discuss your plan in detail?"

Kassia nodded.

Artemis sighed impatiently. "What _is _the plan?"

"You will return Captain Short and myself to the LEP without a ransom but with a profuse apology, as well as, possibly, an offer to aid them in the future." Kassia paused for a moment. "But based on the fact that you are a self-absorbed, greedy dunce, you will probably want a ransom, yes?"

Artemis nodded. "Obviously, after all the trouble that I went through-" Kassia cut him off with her hand.

"Excuse me? What about the trouble that you _caused _by kidnapping Holly?" she said.

Artemis chuckled. "Holly? Is that her name?"

"Stop getting off topic, Fowl! Do _not _take a ransom!"

"I deserve a ransom."

"The fate of the _world _depends on this interaction and you're concerned about deserving a ransom?"

"Yes."

"Ugh! Fine then, take a ransom, but make it a _small _one Artemis, not the _one ton _of twenty-four karat gold that you originally demanded."

"So, then, I can demand 999 kilograms of gold?"

Kassia sucked in a deep, patient breath; the lights had begun to flicker again. "No. No, make the _ransom,_" she spat the word like is was poisonous, "_much_ smaller than your original. Perhaps several pounds of gold will appease you, Fowl?" She didn't say it as if it were a question.

"Fine then," Artemis said too quickly.

Kassia's sharp ear caught it immediately, and she eyed him suspiciously. "You had better mean that, Fowl."

This time, when Artemis spoke, his voice was sincere. "Ten _kilograms._" he said, pointing out her unit mix-up. "Nothing more. I promise."

Butler entered the room with a tray of food; rich delicacies that Kassia had grown used to at Hogwarts. Two bowls of bright red tomato-and-basil soup sat on the left portion of the tray, while a platter of vegetable-and-creme-sauce dumplings took up most of the middle. Different sauces were placed on the edges of the dumpling platter, and crammed into the corners were cups of herbal tea.

Kassia thanked Butler, who glowered in return, and ate the food gingerly. It was very good; equivalent to the food at Hogwarts, at least. They did not utter a word as they ate, but both genii were certainly deep in thought.

It was not until Butler exited the room with all of the dishes that Artemis finally spoke. "When will this plan be instituted, then?"

"Tomorrow," Kassia said immediately. "We all need our rest. But it would be best to let the fairies know this. Otherwise, they may attempt to attack tonight."

* * *

Later that night, after having bathed and dressed in more acceptable clothes, Kassia contacted the LEP.

"_Any news?_" Foaly said immediately in Gnomish, his face looking bulbous on the screen.

"_Nice to see you too, Foaly,_" Kassia muttered irritably in response. Artemis had agreed to let her use one of his many computers to communicate with the fairies. It had taken a while to make contact with them, seeing as they were not visible on any of the local servers, but again, Kassia's magical abilities came in handy.

"_Well, what did you expect? We've been dying for news for hours_," Foaly complained heatedly.

"_All right, all right, yes I have news. Fowl is prepared to make an offer tomorrow morning at approximately ten thirty. And I know what you're going to say,_" Kassia said, holding up her hand to cut short Foaly's protests, "_but we all need our rest. We __are__ mud people after all. We can't keep going forever._"

Foaly considered this for a moment. "_We're going to use a time stop, Kas. The council has approved one, seeing as the situation is pretty dire. But you do know that it's impossible to change your state of consciousness while inside a time stop, right?_"

Kassia grimaced for a moment, then whispered, _"I'm aware. But Fowl doesn't know it. This will give you time for preparation."_

At this, Foaly nodded. _"How are planning to escape Fowl, then?"_

"_My...erm... diplomacy has convinced Fowl to release me tomorrow morning._"

"_Does he know what you are?_"

A nod.

"_How much does he know?_"

"_Too much. Far too much._"

"_Honestly, I think a mind wipe is in order-_"

"_No,_" Kassia said, a little too sharply. Foaly visibly flinched at the iciness in her tone.

"_I'm sorry,_" she continued, little more kindly, "_but I honestly don't think that a mind wipe would be permanent on this boy. And, if you, that is to say we kept an eye on him, then he would be much less of a threat than if we mind wiped him and left him to his own devices_."

Foaly nodded and fingered his chestnut-colored goatee. "_I suppose I could agree with that statement, and I suppose I can convince the Commander of your argument...but if Fowl goes rouge I'm going to hold you personally responsible_."

Kassia nodded, then smiled fondly. "_I know, Foaly...and thanks for being one of the only fairies that listens to me. Other than Holly, of course..." _

At the mention of her name, Foaly started. _"Has he agreed to release her?" _

"_Well, that I can't say. I'm sworn to secrecy until morning by that miserable, insufferable little-" _

"Be careful of what you say next,"said a voice behind her. Kassia whirled around to find Artemis watching her, smiling cockily.

"_Well, speak of the devil," _Kassia snarled, still in Gnomish. Realizing her mistake, Kassia switched to English. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Just enough, Kassia," Artemis replied. "Now if you would kindly discontinue your conversation with Mr. Foaly, that would be most excellent. It's past your bedtime."

Kassia waved in farewell to Foaly, then shut down the computer and stormed out the door, stomping hard on Artemis's toe in the process.

Looking out of a hallway window on the way to her room, Kassia noticed a shimmering blue dome forming over the Fowl estate. _"That will be the time stop," _she thought to herself. There was nowhere for her to run now if this plan went wrong..and if the LEP managed to find out who was behind it. _"I had better do this right," _was her final thought as she stepped away from the window.

When she arrived at her door, she found Juliet standing guard outside it. "Still don't trust me?" Kassia asked on her way in. Juliet's response was to slam the door in her face...and lock it.

It really was an unfortunate thing that sleep was impossible in a time stop; Kassia really could have used some rest. There _was_ such a thing as Wizards Meditation, however, which is, essentially, how wizards are able to use their magic to make repairs to the body. It takes a great level of concentration, thus very few wizards are able to accomplish this meditative state. But when it is accomplished, it is very refreshing.

* * *

She had no way of knowing what time it was, as there were no windows in her room; only an amazingly comfortable king-sized bed, a trunk, and the door to her bathroom. Clothes had been laid out for her while she was medatating (probably by Juliet), and after she had taken a very drawn-out bath, she slipped them on. They were simple, but nice enough; faded blue jeans and her black t-shirt from the day before, freshly washed, with a fleecy, slightly overlarge red jacket. Nothing fancy, but then fancy had really never suited her well.

Breakfast was a dull affair; the food was lovely, but the conversation was abysmal. Artemis had dark circles under his eyes, and Kassia retrained herself from accusing him of staying up past his bedtime.

Finally, ten thirty arrived, and all four of them rose from the table. But as Artemis was reaching for the door handle, Butler grabbed Kassia by the arm and dragged her down the hallway. Kassia was too surprised to respond.

"Butler, what is going on?" Kassia demanded as she found her voice.

Butler stopped her outside a door. "I'm afraid Master Fowl has reconsidered his offer. Evidently, he does not want to part with his fairy, his ransom, and for that matter, you. He hopes you'll understand."

As the words sank in, Kassia became angry. _Very _angry. That (insert swear here) had double-crossed her! She should have known, she shouldn't have trusted him!

Her rage bubbled up inside her, and when Butler went to push her into her room, he drew back; her very skin was scorching him. The lights around the hallway and the windows on either end exploded in her rage. Her fingertips tingled, and when she lifted them to examine, she found white-hot sparks fizzling in her palms.

When she tried to run, however, Butler was still able to contain her. Being very careful not to touch her skin, he hauled her up by the arms and threw her into the room.

The door refused to burn down; this particular door was made of metal. She was trapped in her room, her cell, her prison, no matter how livid she was.

Eventually, she was able to calm herself down. Despair began to replace her anger; she was never going to get out of here, there was going to be a war and the wizards were going to be dragged into it...and it was all her fault.

Unless she did something about it.

Having Holly come and bust her out of her cell helped.

Apparently, Holly had been free since the night before, and had intended to break Kassia out, but had figured that the LEP would send in a team to retrieve her anyway. When they didn't come, and when she heard them at the breakfast table discussing a "plan" she had decided to retrieve Kassia herself.

Now, they stood in the room where Kassia had first woken up, Artemis's office. Kassia had grabbed her wand, and Holly her Nuetrino. Kassia had a plan.

"I don't much like it," Holly said after Kassia had explained her plan. "But I honestly don't think that we have many other options."

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

When Artemis returned from his meeting with the fairies, he was already edgy; when he had refused to accept Kassia's plan, kept Holly and Kassia for ransom, doubled said ransom to _two _tons of gold, in _addition _to a cure for his mother,he had, in return, been shot at all the way to his doorstep. And when he opened the door to find an angry witch _and_ fairy _armed_...Artemis had really never believed in bad luck, but at this point, he was attempting to recount the last time he had walked under a ladder or broken a mirror.

"Sit," Kassia snapped gesturing to the kitchen table. She didn't have to point her wand at him; it was menacing enough knowing that she had it. Artemis sat. Butler sat.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase, Fowl; why didn't you stick to the original plan?" Kassia asked. She had to enjoy being the interrogator.

Artemis drummed his fingers on the table. "I deserved a ransom-"

"What, for kidnapping me?!" Holly shouted.

"Holly. Shush," Kassia whispered. "Now, I had a plan so that _everyone _would get what they wanted. What _exactly _was the ransom that you demanded in your discussion, Fowl? And do be thorough, because I wouldn't want to have to resort to..." he words trailed off as she nonchalantly fiddled with her wand.

"I doubled the ransom and demanded that the fairies heal my mother's mental illness," Artemis said abruptly.

Artemis could distinctly hear Kassia curse several times in French before she responded.

"All right, then, Artemis, I have a plan. But this time, kindly try not to mess it up..."

* * *

**I know, I'm awful...a cliffhanger! And I'll be busy this week, so I might not be able to update for a while. If you review, of course, I might be able to make some time to update...**


	8. Chapter 8

**I know this chapter is LONG overdue...sorry! Don't yell at me, please. And...**

**You guys...seriously? No more new reviews? *Sigh**

**You're making me sad. :(**

**But I do need your help with something. This isn't really a spoiler...but if you've read Harry Potter/ watched the movies, you know that in the Goblet of Fire, there is a Yule Ball, which I will be including in my story. I need _your _help deciding on a dress for Kassia to wear to the ball. Links don't work, so either PM me, or, better yet, put your suggestion in the reviews, and tell us a) where to find it (what search engine/website), b)what you typed in, and c)what it looks like (so we can figure out exactly which dress you mean). Can you help me out with this, please please please? If I get enough suggestions, I may even decide to have you guys VOTE which would be amazing! **

**Anyway, yes, this chapter is short, but it's got some action in it, so...enjoy! Review! Follow! Favorite! And don't forget to check out Motomo's story, because it is AMAZING! :)**

* * *

The stage was set. Kassia took one last glance at the team assembled before her.

Holly, in a pair of handcuffs. Butler and Juliet, standing guard beside her. And of course, Artemis, the boy genius, at her shoulder. If this plan worked, they would save the world. If it didn't...the effects on all worlds, magical and Muggle, would be nothing short of disastrous.

Before they exited the concrete room, Butler quickly handcuffed her. He was noticeably rougher on her than he had been with Holly; apparently this man held grudges. As the rest of the group went through the door, Artemis stopped Kassia with his hand. Butler and Juliet gave them a suspicious glance, but continued on.

Artemis slipped something small and hard into her jacket pocket. When Kassia started to ask what it was, he raised a finger to his lips. It was meant to be a secret. They exited the room together and caught up with the rest of the group.

Silently, they made their way through the hallways of Fowl Manor. The very walls seemed to be pressing in on Kassia, closing in on her from all sides; she was grateful when they finally exited the house.

What they saw on the front lawn made them all stop dead. Fairies lined the front lawn, all pointing lethal-looking Neutrinos directly at them. Two of the fairies marched up to them, Neutrinos still raised. They glanced apprehensively at Butler, but spoke to Artemis with confidence.

"_Let us take your prisoners now Fowl, and we won't have to hurt you," _one of them said, his voice layered thickly with honey-sweet _mesme_r_. _

Artemis appeared slightly dazed after hearing this, and was about to respond...until he shook his head, freeing his mind. Kassia was impressed; she was one of the only people she knew of who had the control to overpower a _mesmer_.

Despite Artemis's impressive brain functioning, Kassia stepped in.

"_Actually, officers, I think it would be best if you negotiated with Mr. Fowl here," _she said in Gnomish, trying to hint at as much hysteria as she could. She wanted them to believe that he was a force to be reckoned with, crazy, a madman, even. If they caught her hint, they'd negotiate,come to Kassia's previously-instructed terms, and, hopefully, forget about each other. If this didn't work, they'd be fighting each other endlessly, conflicts escalating and escalating until there was a war between worlds.

With a bit of luck, she could schmooze her way out of that.

Luck was on her side.

The officers led them to where the Commander, Foaly, and Trouble stood waiting. As per usual, the Commander scowled, Foaly sported a tinfoil hat (because you never know when someone's going to try to take over your brain), and Trouble...was there.

Artemis strode confidently over to group and nodded at each of the fairies in turn. "Gentleman," he said with a bow. Out of the corner of her eye, Kassia noticed Holly rolling her eyes.

The Commander cleared his throat. _"What do you want, Fowl?" _

Artemis was clearly not used to being disrespected. He began to say something (most likely some sort of retort) when he noticed Kassia's withering glare out of the corner of his eye. Wisely, he shut his mouth.

"_I merely wanted to return them home," _Artemis said instead, gesturing behind him to Kassia and Holly.

Foaly frowned. _"You speak Gnomish, then, do you mud boy?" _Artemis nodded in response.

Trouble spoke up then. _"How are we to know that we aren't being tricked?" _

"_You don't," _Artemis whispered, _"but without consenting to this, you will not get Miss Short or Miss Kassia back." _

A few moments of awkward silence ensued. Artemis gazed fixedly on the blue dome above their heads. Noticing his gaze, Foaly spoke.

"_A time stop. That's what it's called. The world isn't able to reach out to us, and us them." _He paused for a moment. _"At least, until the effects wear off." _

The Commander gave Foaly a frown, but spoke to Artemis. _"Give us some time to discuss it, Fowl." _

Before they could leave, Artemis spoke one last time. _"If it's all the same to you gentleman, I would like a ransom for the prisoner's safety." _

The Commander wheeled on him. _"And how much gold does your greedy mudboy heart desire?" _he sneered.

"_It's not necessarily gold that I want, sir," _Artemis whispered. _"I'd much rather have my mother's sanity back."_

* * *

Artemis was very pleased with himself. He had, no doubt, put on a good show. What was more; it was entirely believable. He did, of course, value his mother's sanity, but the primary function of this kidnapping was to receive a ransom. And so he would. No matter what form the ransom took.

He could do with a fairy or a witch to study. Or money.

At any rate, his final, haunting comment must have had an effect on the overall decision, because the fairies returned looking rather solemn.

"_All right, Fowl, here's what we're going to do," _the Commander began, _"We will take back the prisoners in exchange for your mother's sanity. That is our final offer, Fowl. Otherwise, we will be forced to kill you." _

Artemis nodded at this. _"I accept your offer, Commander." _

"_Wise choice, mudboy," _Foaly muttered under his breath.

"_Now here is how this is going to work," _the Commander began, _"One representative from the LEP will enter your home. No one will attack _anyone_, or you will die. The representative will meet your mother at the desired location. Your mother will be healed. The healer will exit your home, unscathed in any way, shape or form. If there is _any _form of noncompliance, you will die. We will make our leave with _all _of the fairies that we brought with us, in addition to Miss Kassia and Miss Short. If this does not happen, you will die. Any questions?" _he concluded, his beady eyes glaring fixedly at Artemis.

This earned him a vampire smile from Artemis. _"No problem, Commander. No problem at all." _

* * *

Kassia was relieved when the healer emerged unharmed. She panicked, of course, when she found out the LEP's plan to kill Artemis, but the momentary feeling of relief was bliss.

She had approached Root after her bonds had been removed to inquire about her wand, when she overheard the conversation that stopped her dead...

"_...has to be disposed of right away! I understand that it is against our nature, but he poses a threat to every living being under the Earth!" _

"_But Commander _(this was Foaly's voice) _you said it yourself, it is against our ways. It goes against the Book-" _

"_Never mind the Book! _(this voice was distinctly Trouble's) _We have to act. I agree with the Commander. If we don't act now, Fowl will come for us later." _

Silence.

"_What method do you propose, Commander," _Foaly sighed, finally resigning to the Commander's...commands.

"_Blue rinse," _he replied instantly. _"Not so messy. Get it ready, Foaly." _

Kassia stood silently for a few breaths. Then, slowly backing away from the group, she remembered the object that Artemis had placed in her pocket. She pulled it out, gasped, and ran toward Fowl manor.

She entered through a discreet side door. She was hardly surprised to see Butler there, standing guard.

"Artemis has a plan, then?" she asked.

He nodded. "I'll show you to him."

Artemis was sitting alone in a huge dining room (which looked rather silly to Kassia because of his small size), eating a French chicken dish with a heavy crème sauce. He nodded at her as she entered, and gestured to a chair next to him as he sipped out of an elegant crystal glass.

Kassia sat tentatively next to him. Immediately, she launched into a conversation.

"Artemis, they plan to kill you. I don't know if you know about blue rinse, but if you know anything about it, then-"

Artemis cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Thank you, Miss Kassia, that will be all. I trust you have the earpiece?"

Kassia harrumphed, frustrated by his nonchalance, his lack of urgency, but reached into her pocket an pulled out the earpiece. It was the one that she had stomped on the night of her kidnapping, the one that she had left for him in the hallway.

"You worked on this last night, then?" she asked, admiring how perfectly it had been reassembled.

The boy genius nodded. "Now what did you come back for? Surely not to save me."

Kassia cocked her head and scowled. "Yes and no. I came to save you, but not because of _you_. I know that it would be futile to erase your memory; your brain power is far too strong for that, so the memories wouldn't stay submerged for long."

N ow it was Artemis's turn to cock his head. "How do you mean _submerged_?"

Kassia rose and began to pace.

"Mind wipes don't completely remove the memory from the mind. They more...hide it behind something else, veil it behind a fog of sorts. When you have a powerful mind such as yours, however, the fog is much easier to lift subconsciously, because you are more aware of your mind."

Kassia noted Artemis's seemingly far-off look. She knew that he was taking mental notes, storing the information and filing it away in his brain for future use. How did she know this? Because she often wore the same expression herself.

Artemis spoke next. "Butler, it is time."

The next few minutes were a blur. Something black washed across Kassia's vision, and she silently cursed herself. _Of course _Artemis was going to try to double-cross her again. She was an _idiot _for believing that this was anything but a trap. This entire setup had been a trap; he had lured her here so she could be his test subject, so he could reveal her people to the world.

Kassia couldn't have that.

So seconds after the black bag was placed on her head, a huge burst of energy erupted from her, throwing the bag off of her head, shattering every light in the room, sending arcs of lighting to every electrical source, and throwing Butler and Artemis into opposite walls. A mirror at the other end of the dining room shattered into thousands of pieces that landed at her feet. Her heart pounded in her chest, hammering against her ribcage, but she hardly noticed it over the feeling of raw _power _that washed over her. She was unbeatable, unstoppable. She was deadly.

She noticed, after her breath had lessened and both gentleman had risen, that tiny silver sparks were flitting across her skin and hair. She made a mental note not to touch anyone or anything until the sparks faded away.

Artemis and Butler silently backed up against the wall, looking shocked, eyes wide, clothes askew. Kassia glanced into one of the mirror fragments at her feet. Her eyes glowed a pale gold; they must have been exquisite during the burst of power.

Naturally, silence ensued. And then Kassia heard a sound. It sounded like padding feet, coming down the hallway...

A woman came into view in the doorway. She was middle - aged; not young, but certainly not old, and beautiful. Her hair was long and dark, and her face was open and friendly. Her eyes, however, when Kassia caught sight of them, were vacant. They almost seemed to be...missing something. Alarm bells certainly went off when she noticed that the lady was wearing a wedding dress. This _had _to be Artemis's ill mother.

Mrs. Fowl smiled absently at the scene around her. She reached a withered, pale hand to no one in particular. "Darling, you've returned to me at last!"

She made her way across the floor, which was still covered in broken glass, her arms still outstretched. She seemed completely oblivious to the glass that had began to cut her feet, dripping blood gently onto the floor. Artemis tried to tell his mother to stop, shouted at her that she was hurting herself, but again, Mrs. Fowl was oblivious.

Kassia rushed forward and took Mrs. Fowl's hand. Immediately, the lady's eyes widened fearfully, flitting around the room, and finally resting on her bloodied feet. She didn't know where she was. Her gaze locked with Kassia's, and then she began to scream.

Kassia winced at the shrill sound, jerking her hands away from Mrs. Fowl's. Artemis appeared at his mother's shoulder, taking her hands and guiding her gently out of the room. Butler exited the room, muttering something about needing a dustpan. Kassia was left alone. This was her only opportunity.

She picked her way carefully over the glass and slipped into the hallway near the kitchen. She listened for the sound of footsteps, particularly Butler's, until she found the staircases.

After reaching Artemis's study, it only took a matter of seconds to locate her wand. She peeked into several doors, searching for something...until finally, _finally _she located Artemis's state-of-the-art chemistry lab. Luckily for her, the cabinets of chemicals were well-organized (by function), so it only took a few moments of searching through deadly materials to find the one she was looking for. She slipped the small bottle into her pocket, silently begging that the others hadn't noticed her absence.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! **


	9. Sampler

**Today's chapter is short. Which is why it is called "Sampler" - it's really too short to be called a chapter. Inexcusable, I know, I'm sooo sorry I haven't had time to update. Naturally, my teachers dumped tons of homework on us the week before break started...but I have started work on the next chapter and will try to get that to you ASAP! **

**So I wanted to give a shout-out to tolemic, who followed my story a while ago...I didn't know you could actually see who had favorited/ followed your story until today. Please don't judge, I'm new. :( Anyway, thanks so much for the support, tolemic! I will definitely be reading/reviewing your stories. And MissMinoque999 favorited...today! Thanks! And I guess it kind of goes without saying that Motomo gets a shout-out again, because they have reviewed consistently and with awesome feedback! Thanks so much Motomo! And if you're looking for a good Percy Jackson story to read, then look no further, because Motomo has an amazing Percy Jackson fic that you should definitely look into. **

**I will stop ranting now and let you read the story! Thanks for reading! :)**

**-Seshat **

* * *

Kassia brought the tea into the parlor on a silver tray. Two saucers, one full of honey and one full of milk, balanced between four elegant china teacups. Butler and Juliet sat silently on a sofa at the far end of the room; when she entered the room, they nodded in unison and went back to regarding the elegant marble floor.

Kassia set the tea tray on the coffee table in front of them, then took a cup to a soft chair nearby and sat down gently. Artemis entered the room minutes later. He muttered thanks to Kassia, then sat across from her with his own cup of tea. Three of them sipped the tea methodically, cautiously. Kassia merely regarded it.

"Is your mother all right?" Kassia asked, breaking the silence.

Artemis nodded. "Yes. She seemed to be having some sort of lucid dream, or a nightmare, perhaps. She seems sane enough, for the time being. Even so, I administered tranquilizing drugs to eliminate the risk of future...sleepwalking."

Kassia shook her head. "It's impossible to change your state of consciousness while you're inside a time stop." There was a slight pause before she added, "Perhaps it was some sort of hallucination, then? It seems likely, considering her recent encounter with a magical healing. And it was definitely a good idea to put her on tranquilizers. Obviously she isn't mentally stable quite yet."

Once again, there was silence, save for the ticking of the grandfather clock at the end of the room.

_Tick, tock. Tick tock. Crash! _(clock noises followed by something dramatic cliché. Sorry)

Kassia tore her gaze from the elegant clock to find that Juliet had dropped her cup, causing it to shatter on the ground. Her body began to droop. Butler attempted to catch her, but seconds later, he also slumped over, eyes closed. Artemis rose suddenly in alarm but soon began to sway, clutching his head.

Suddenly, his icy eyes focused on Kassia._"You..." _was the last thing he said before he began to drop towards the floor. Kassia caught him hastily; luckily for her, he was light. She had almost no upper-body strength. Or much of any strength, for that matter.

She set wrestled Artemis roughly into the chair. She didn't even stop to admire her handiwork as she stalked out of the room and out the back door.

* * *

Sneaking back into the LEP's "base" wasn't exactly difficult; everyone was focused on preparations for the blue rinse. Kassia merely had to skirt along the outer edges of the mansion, careful not to be seen, and slip nonchalantly near Foaly's equipment, making it appear as though she had been standing there the entire time. Casually, she glanced around to observe the proceedings. They had made considerable progress since she had been gone. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed her absence.

Well, almost no one.

"_Kassia, where have you been?" _Foaly exclaimed as he spotted her by his workstation.

Kassia gave him a cheery smile. _"Oh, hello Foaly. I was just talking with Trouble. Didn't you see me?" _

Foaly shrugged. _"Well, no...that's fine. Anyway, can we get your assistance with the bio-bomb? There's some minor program tweaking that needs to be done, but I have to oversee the satellite coordinates, and-" _

"_Don't worry about it, I can handle it. Just...go do what you have to do," _Kassia interjected.

After returning a grateful nod from Foaly, Kassia set to work. She wasn't surprised to find that most of the programming was flawless; to her, it could even be considered beautiful. The largest issue she found was a minor miscalculation. Finally, it was ready.

The launching of the blue rinse was a solemn affair. It wasn't every day that the LEP decided to kill a human, let alone a child. But it had to be done. For the good of the People.

It was a rather simple process; the bio-bomb was simply projected from the launch site and through the left-most third story window. There was a loud _boom _and a bright blue light. And that was it. Every living thing in Fowl Manor was dead.

* * *

**So what did you think? Share your thoughts please, I love feedback! :)**


	10. Chapter 9

**Greetings everyone! I just wanted to thank you all for taking the time to read this. Oh, and Merry Christmas! **

**-Seshat**

* * *

**Arty's POV**

His head hurt. That was the first thought that Artemis had when he woke up in the chair. Mid-morning light made dappled patterns and lines across his vision. He noticed, suddenly, that he had fallen asleep in the parlor...in a chair? How had _that _happened? And then he remembered. The tea. The fairies. Kassia. ERGH! Kassia had done this to him. Taken away his fairy and his gold and left him with nothing after all that he had done to restore his family's fortune. How dare she!

He sat up abruptly, but immediately regretted it. He was still a bit dizzy. And so he waited.

He noticed a dainty china teacup sitting on the table next to him. He picked up the cup and smelled it. Just as he suspected. It was tainted with tranquilizer. It was completely tasteless, but it emitted a faintly floral odor. And it only existed in one lab in the world. His.

"You figured it out, then, did you Fowl?" someone said.

Artemis whirled around to see Kassia, sipping a cup of tea, sitting in the chair across from him. How had he not spotted her before? It did not matter. She was in his house. He was going to give her a piece of _his _mind, that was for sure...

Before he could utter a word, however, Kassia held up her hand.

"Let me explain, Fowl. First of all, I was able to salvage a portion of the ransom for you," she said. When he didn't respond, she frowned and said, "You're welcome. Anyway, Fowl, surely you realize the importance of-"

Artemis turned to her curtly, donning a glare that was chilling enough to silence her.

"Miss Kassia," he whispered ominously, "I understand the importance of peace to your people. If you'll recall, you spilled every secret of theirs during our conversation last evening. But I do not care. I am Artemis Fowl, the leader of a criminal empire. If I cared about your people in the slightest, or, in fact, any people other than myself, do you really think that any of this conflict would have begun in the first place? Self-preservation, _mademoiselle_. That was the purpose of this conquest. And because you have completely annihilated my plans, I must immediately regard you as an enemy. Now kindly leave the estate before Butler wakes."

Butler and Juliet had been comatose for the entire conversation. Now, Kassia looked nervously over at the two of them. Butler had, in fact begun to stir. Artemis grinned triumphantly at Kassia. He was back in control of the situation.

But the girl merely rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand. "I'll leave when I wish, Fowl. And, in response to your previous statement, I regard you as an enemy was well as a worthy opponent. It's been fun, really, but I ought to be going. Mind if I use your fireplace?"

* * *

**Kas's POV**

Kassia still hated the strange sensation of Floo Network transport. Even so, the out-of-body tingle was a relief compared to the grief that had begun to swallow her whole.

As soon as she stepped into her old cabin, she ran for her room. It was exactly the same as it had been last summer; books all throughout the room, large bay window. A thin layer of dust covered the room.

Kassia lay in her bed for quite a while. The setting sun was her only indication that any time had passed at all. She sobbed into her pillows, seeking comfort in the familiar scent and texture of the warm sheets. Her parents were gone...she'd never had a proper chance to say goodbye. Even though she had hated that her father was always gone, hated the formal parties that she was forced to go to, hated the snobby people that she'd had to schmooze, her parents were such wonderful people. And in a single flash of green light, they were gone.

Long after the sky had been streaked with pink and the moon had risen, Kassia's sobs subsided. Her breathing became even and deep. Now, she simply felt...tired. Her eyes drooped and soon, she fell into a fitful slumber. She replayed her parents death in her dreams over and over again, like a skipping stone, before she finally tossed the thought aside into the depths of her subconscious.

The next morning was, at the risk of sounding cliché, a blur. Although it had been two days since she had last eaten, she did not fell hungry in the slightest. On the contrary, she felt relieved, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. And, she supposed, it had. All throughout her stay – or imprisonment, more like – at Fowl manor, she had been slightly preoccupied with her (foster) parent's deaths. With their murders.

But she had pushed the grief out of her mind. It was rare for her to lose control the way she had last night. She supposed that that was a part of coping with such grief. Now that that was done, she decided, she had to keep control.

To her surprise, she found all of her luggage (including her owl, Diablo) sitting in the living room. Trouble had probably dropped it off the night before, as she had left it in _his _pod. She let Diablo out of his cage before stepping outside.

Kassia spent part of the morning walking around the lake near her cabin, skipping stones against the water, enjoying the warmth of the early-summer sun. Her skin looked almost translucent in sun so bright. Until, of course, it burned. She shouldn't have been surprised; her skin was so ghostly pale, any sun exposure posed the risk of it burning. But she was still annoyed that she could no longer spend time in the sun.

She made her way into the woods instead. The woods here were dense, covering the soft-looking mountains in swathes of green silk.

The shade felt nice on her pink, sunburned skin. Barely any sunlight was able to penetrate the dense canopy of tree leaves above her head, and the light that did make it through was tainted a bright green. Kassia could think of few places that were this beautiful.

While walking along the banks of a rocky stream, Kassia heard a small noise. She stopped, nearly shushing the loud bubbling of the stream before realizing that it couldn't hear her. She stood very still and closed her eyes, concentrating on locating the noise once more. A few seconds later, she heard it again, closer then before, and definitely coming from her right. She darted away from the stream, carefully but quickly making her way over the treacherous forest floor. After hearing the noise once more (it sounded like a whimper), she found herself in a small clearing.

There, right in the middle of it, was a bundle a silvery fur. It whimpered once more before a head poked out of it...and a tail, and paws...a wolf pup! That was what Kassia had discovered. A wolf pup, all alone in the woods. Why...?

That was when Kassia got her answer. As she moved in closer, she saw the pup's paws. Huge gashes ran along two of its legs, blood spilling from various slices. But the wolf was _beautiful_. Its eyes were a dazzling silver-green, a beautiful combination that Kassia had never seen before. Its fur was silver, as she had seen before, but she had not seen the wonderful, intricate black patterns of fur that ran along the wolf's face.

Suddenly, it began barking and whining madly, growling, baring its teeth. Had she come too close?

"Okay, I'm sorry, it's okay, I'm leaving now..." she muttered over and over, but the wolf continued to bark louder ad louder. It occurred to Kassia that it was almost as if the wolf was warning her...

And that's when she saw the bobcat standing behind her. It bared its fangs as she turned around, growling so menacingly that the pup's shrill barks of terror were drowned out completely. Kassia immediately reached for her wand (thank goodness she had had enough sense to bring it) and pointed it at the bobcat.

"_St-stupify!" _she cried, hardly overcoming her shock and panic. The bobcat was thrown mercilessly against the tree behind it, and then lay still, save for slow, steady breathing.

"Thanks," she muttered to the pup, then caught herself as she realized that she was speaking to an animal.

The wolf just cocked its head at her curiously. It started to get up, but yelped as it put weight on its bloodied legs. It fell back into the tall grass.

Kassia smiled affectionately at the wolf, and it occurred to her that she had a first aid kit back at the cabin. Slowly, carefully, she picked her way over to the pup, whispering gently, muttering soothingly under her breath. Even as she wrapped her arms gently around it, it did not move. As she picked it up, Kassia realized that it was a girl. _She _curled up in Kassia's arms and fell asleep. Kassia stroked the wolf pup's fur gently and tromped back to her cabin.

"I'll call you Shard," Kassia whispered to the wolf pup cuddled in her arms as she walked through the door to her cabin.

* * *

**Still Kas's POV...**

After she had cleaned up Shard, Kassia set the puppy down on a stack of blankets in the living room.

"Now I want you to rest," Kassia insisted patting Shard on the head "That's the only way you can get better." She laughed as Shard tried to escape the nest of blankets with huge, white bandages all over her legs. "Oh, come on now, settle down," Kassia giggled as she settled Shard back down. As she was leaving the room, she heard the puppy's frantic whimpering and barking. She sighed and went back into the room, scooped up Shard, and settled onto the couch. Immediately, Shard curled up in Kassia's arms and fell asleep. Soon, Kassia found that the heavy, summery heat was getting to her as well, and she fell asleep with her wolf pup curled up in her arms.

She awoke to a huge hunger pang.

"_Idiot," _she chided herself as as she sat up. _"How could you have forgotten to _eat _of all things?" _

Shard had obviously been awake for a while. She was well-through one of the blankets that had once made up her nest.

Kassia sighed and tugged the blanket, laughing as Shard bit down on it and was dragged around the floor.

"Let go, Shard, you weirdo!" she giggled. Eventually, she gave in and let Shard have her blanket. Because she was just too adorable.

Kassia made her way into the kitchen grimacing against the aches in her stomach. Her parents had always kept plenty of non-perishable food here. She found cans of beans (eew) and peaches and strips of jerky, fruit preserves, cereals, and candies. She ripped up little bits of jerky for Shard and opened a can of peaches for herself. Just as she was finishing up her peaches, she heard a noise at the window.

She turned to find a tawny owl staring at her, pecking at the glass, and otherwise being insufferably impatient. Kassia made her way over to the window, opened it, and pulled out the letter in the bird's beak. It hooted indignantly and flew away.

The letter was from the Ministry. Kassia groaned inwardly. She was obviously in serious trouble for using magic outside of school _on a Muggle_. But hadn't she already taken care of that? She distinctly remembered having a word with a Ministry worker about her exemption to the "Now Magic Outside School" law. Dumbledore had _been _there. Perhaps this letter was about something else.

It was...and wasn't.

_Miss Kassia; _

_ It has come to our attention that at an unknown time or location, you performed the Petrificus Totalus charm not only in the presence of a Muggle, but _on_ a Muggle, and will thus be tried at a disciplinary Ministry hearing on the date below. _

_In addition, your parents have recently passed away, and the Minister sends his condolences. As you are an underage witch, you must either be put in the care of a close family member or friend or be sent to live in a foster home. The Ministry understands that you must be going through a difficult time, and wishes to assist you in any way it can. _

_Best wishes, _

_Matilda Hopkirk _

_Secretary for the Minister of Magic _

Kassia crumpled the letter in all its expensive-papered glory and threw it into the fireplace. Even though a fire was not lit, it hid the thingfrom her sight.

She stomped up to her room and pulled out a pen and paper – she refused to use quills, no matter how _traditional _they were. Cloaks and laptops and and uniforms were bearable; using a quill as opposed to a pen...not happening.

_Dear Ms. Hopkirk, _

_I am afraid that there has been a misunderstanding on the Ministry's part as to my "punishment". You see, I am exempt from this "No Magic Outside School" law, and thus mustn't be punished. If you need confirmation, kindly ask Professor Dumbledore. In addition, the magic that was performed was merely in self-defense. The law clearly states that magic may be performed if the individual feels that their life or well-being is in danger. Perhaps you have forgotten about this particular loophole. _

_And I am perfectly capable of providing for myself, however, I do thank you for the offers of assistance. _

_Thanks again for your understanding. _

_Sincerely,_

_Kassia_

Kassia sealed the letter violently and attached it to Diablo's leg. He hooted indignantly at her rough treatment, bit her thumb, and flew off into the setting sun.

Minutes later, another owl arrived. Kassia shook her head, confused. _Who..._

_Kassia: _

_Hey there, it's Ron. I was wondering if you'd be interested in spending the rest of the summer at the Burrow (my house). Harry will probably be there, but Hermione is on vacation in Paris. She won't be back until right before term. _

_Hope you can come. _

_-Ron _

Kassia shook her head in amusement at the blunt letter and quickly wrote up a response.

_Ron, _

_Sounds like fun! Would you be able to come and get me though? I ran out of Floo powder while I was...well, I'll have to tell you about it when I see you. Oh, and how do you feel about dogs? Or wolves? _

_Thanks, _

_-Kas _

She hastily folded up the letter and tied it to the leg of the owl that had brought Ron's letter. It had stayed, oddly enough; perhaps it had been told to wait for a response?

Soon, however, Kassia felt her eyes grow heavy _again. _

"_What is wrong with me?" _she thought to herself, _"feeling tired all the time..."_

She scooped up Shard and her almost-depleted blanket.

"_Note to self," _she thought tiredly as she retrieved her toothbrush from her trunk, _"get Shard some chew toys." _

She had nearly forgotten how beautiful the stars were here. She could pick out every constellation in the sky, and locate every star (including the one that she had discovered). She felt competently content as she sat at her bay window, Shard curled up in her lap, face pressed against the cool glass. Soon, curled up in the small space, gently jostling Shard. And this is how she fell asleep.

* * *

**So I kind of put in lines at odd intervals...there were so many little "jumps" in time where I would normally put lines, but there would have been so many...**

**Anyway, Motomo, you are spectasticular (dare you to say that three times fast), thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews. And to every one of my amazing followers and favorite...ers, I can not thank you enough for the support! :)**


	11. Chapter 10

**I am so sorry that I haven't updated. I really am, I've just been really busy with school and activities...yeah, that's pretty much it, school and activities. That being said, I won't be updating for a while. How long is a while, you ask? Well...I don't exactly know. But it will be a while. In the meantime, if you are a Percy Jackson fan, you could read my friend Motomo's story, which is called Return of the ****Labyrinth (the title has changed). It is getting pretty intense, so now would be a really opportune time to start reading it...or any time, really...**

**This chapter isn't action-packed, but it sets up action-packed events for future chapters. Again, I'm sorry I've been absent from fanfiction and will be absent from fanfiction for such an extended period of time. As soon as I _can _update, I will. Make sure to review, because Motomo is really the only one that's been involved with that. At all. Seriously guys, it would be really motivating if you just left a quick comment. That would be amazing. **

**Enjoy the chapter! **

**-Seshat 3**

* * *

The sun had barely tainted the sky pink when Ron's response came. Kassia had been awake for only a few minutes, after Shard had whined to be taken out. Shard had been running around the pond and yapping at her reflection in the crystalline water. Kassia had been reading one of the fourth-year books that she had found in her trunk (she had ordered them in the middle of the school year for review). She sighed, feeling bored with the familiar material. She had accomplished _fifth year _spells, no problem, so a fourth year book was just downright _dull_.

Suddenly, the Weasley's owl landed in front of her and pecked her hand until she looked up from her book. It dropped the letter in front of her feet and flew away.

It read:

_Kas, _

_Sounds good. We'll arrive in your fireplace at around noon next Tuesday, your time. Sorry it couldn't be sooner; some cousins of mine are visiting during the week. And about the dog...my mum is all right with you bringing one, so long as you clean up after it. But you best keep it away from Fred. He's dead afraid of them. We're shopping for school before term starts, so we'll be sure to stop at Gringotts whenever you need and head to Diagon Alley. Let me know if you can make it. _

_-Ron _

Kassia whistled gently for Shard, who came bounding up to her, covered in mud and soaked through with pond water, but wagging her tail adorably. Before the puppy could track dirt all over the house, Kassia scooped her up in her arms and held her away from her body. Kassia immediately carried Shard to the bathtub, which she filled with warm water. She didn't have any dog shampoo, so she she had to make do with a washrag and warm water.

Shard _hated _the bath; she tried to escape the tub unsuccessfully throughout the ordeal. When she had been toweled off, she barreled off indignantly through the hallways, yipping madly.

nnn

For the rest of the afternoon, Kassia worked on her spellcasting. She had been able to levitate and summon and manipulate objects for ages, and she had no one to practice charms or jinxes on. So she researched some more advanced and much darker things.

Transfiguration was always tricky because of its lack of defiance; it wasn't always a matter of "working" or "not working". There was always lots of gray area in between.

She'd been particularly fascinated with the idea of animagi (people who were able to transform into animals at will), and had thought of becoming one for a while. She'd even done extensive research on the Sorce (the wizarding web) and found information about the procedure; it was long, meticulous, and painful, essentially. And all anmagi had to register with the ministry, whom she was fast losing her patience with. She would not become one _now_, but she would absolutely consider becoming an animagus in the near future; after all, the magic wasn't _that _difficult. It would just take time.

Remembering, suddenly, the publicly-accessible textbooks available through the Ministry's website, she decided to look further into some intriguing topics that she had stumbled across. She ran her mouse over the various titles, trying to pick just one that she was interested in. Many of these titles, she found, related to Dark Arts. She didn't have access to any of the really deranged ones (bummer) but she was still able to expose herself to some of the nasty things that wizards could do to each other. Torture curses and serums and spells that mangled you, objects riddled with so many incantations that to touch one was to risk your life...these were just a few of the topics covered in them. And her father had known about all of them.

* * *

Hours later, when it became too dark and Kassia had to turn on electrical lighting (courtesy of the solar panels on the roof) the fireplace began to spark and sputter. Kassia pulled her wand out of her robe pocket, flinging her wet, newly-washed hair out of her face. She stood up from her crude workstation, where she had been examining a strange fungus that had grown on a package of forgotten strawberries in the fridge (it was really more for her amusement than for an actual purpose).

Out of the fireplace stepped..."Ardoin?" Kassia asked over her wolf pup's little yips and snarls. She lowered her wand. Shard had made her way over to the tall man and begun sniffing around his ankles. Once satisfied, she made her way over to her master. Kassia picked up her puppy and began smoothing the wolf's fur.

Ardoin nodded grimly and spoke with his heavy French accent. "Hello, miss. It has been a while since we last spoke. My sympathies about your parents. They were good people. But," he continued, brushing a stray bit of ash off of his navy blue robes, "you must be taken somewhere else now. You cannot live independently under the age of seventeen."

Kassia frowned and shook her head curtly, sticking her wand in her robe pocket. She rubbed the collar of the "Thank you for the offer, but as I said in my letter-"

The skin around Ardoin's eyes crinkled as he fought to bight back a smile. "Yes, the Ministry officials found your letter quite...how do you say...amusing." He immediately lost his smile when he caught sight of Kassia's frightening glare. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "But you will have to come with me so we can arrange your housing in the foster-"

Again, Kassia shook her head. "I've managed here just fine, thank you, and I'm really not in need of any-"

Now Ardoin cut Kassia off. "Miss, you obviously haven't been informed...your parents never had a will, and the state of your primary residence, California, has withheld your parent's fortune from you. You are penniless." He paused for a moment. "Well, until you are eighteen."

Kassia nodded patiently. "Yes, but in the wizard world...well, I had plenty of Galleons in my Gringotts account."

Ardoin sighed. "Kassia, it is not up to me to decide wizarding law. You really must come with me. The Wizengamot must decide what is to be done with you."

Kassia pressed her fingers to her temples. "All right, Ardoin. I'll go with you," she sighed, shifting her gaze up to meet his. "But if I disagree with _anything _that they decide, I'm leaving. To be honest, I've wasted enough time with the incompetent wizarding government."

Ardoin smiled again, genuinely. "You are an...interesting girl Kassia." After a few moments of silence, he added, "I hope that one day you find your true last name."

Kassia gazed at the sleeping puppy in her arms. "Consider it done."

* * *

The Ministry building was a beautiful place. She had never been there before; when she and Dumbledore had negotiated her allowed magic use outside of school, the Ministry had come to _her_. She hadn't liked the officials one bit. They were incredibly pompous, and large-headed, and really not all that bright. They obviously got their power from their wealth; Kassia could tell by the height of their heads and the gold flecks in their robes. It had taken _forever _to get it through their thick skulls how her being able to use magic outside of the Hogwarts campus would be used to help people.

They entered the Ministry through the Visitors Entrance (which was, to Kassia's surprise, was through a telephone booth in downtown London). Ardoin entered a long series of numbers, and spoke a few words into the phone, and, suddenly, two visitor's badges popped out of the place where the coin slot should have been. Then, they descended into the Ministry of Magic.

The black marble walls were decorated ornately with golden crown moldings and carvings depicting scenes of famous witches and wizards. At the center of the grand entrance hall (that seemed to be what it was) stood a beautiful golden fountain of an older warlock and a young witch with their wands extended. Jets of water streamed from the tips of their wands, and below them a ring was assembled of various elves (including a smaller, wrinkled-looking creature that Ardoin identified as a House Elf), centaurs, and other fae. Kassia felt a pang of recognition when she saw the depictions of theses creatures; they looked uncannily like her friends from underground.

Multiple wings led off of the room from which they had entered; one led to a long line of elevators, and another to a long row of fireplaces, from which a random assortment of witches and wizards were entering and emerging.

Kassia found herself being tugged on the arm by Ardoin seconds after she had taken in all of this; she must have been gawking. He led her toward the elevator corridor and pointed out the one on the far left, with the least amount of traffic. Ardoin debriefed her on her current situation; she would have very little say in her fate, and her presence there was merely a formality, really. This didn't come as a surprise to her.

They finally exited the elevator on the bottom floor (it was pointless to call it a basement as the entire building was underground) which had a slightly musty smell. Kassia noticed that it was only one corridor long. A single hallway stretched for as far as she could see. Lining the walls, which were covered in the same black tile as upstairs (but now it looked menacing) were doors, which, as Ardoin had informed her, led to courtrooms. Hers was the third door on the left.

Suddenly, Kassia felt very small. Her breathing became slightly more difficult, and she had to use the side wall to steady her swimming vision. It felt as if a rug had been pulled out form underneath her feet. When she walked out of the courtroom, her fate would be decided, her whole life would be completely and totally changed, she would live in a home where children with no families and whom nobody wanted were sent until seventeen, or given away to a family who might not even accept her...what would she do what would she...

Slowly, she began to regain her breath. Everything was going to be fine. A clear mind. Deep breaths. She could get through this. Would. Would because she was who she was; a genius.

She straightened and drew herself taller. Her black formal pants and blouse made her feel empowered. She arranged her facial features as best she could; her mother had always called her her her little Flame, bright but constantly shifting in the wind, face always molding, adapting, changing. Her mother had been the same, as you could read her emotions as if she had shouted her feelings blatantly to you. Kassia could not think of her mother now, could not be her daughter. She had to perform as if none of this bothered her. She had to be an adult.

Deep breaths.

Kassia straightened and pulled her sweaty palm away from the wall. Ardoin was gazing at her with a concerned expression, his dirty blonde eyebrows making the space between them crinkle. Kassia smiled up at him as confidently as she could (although it probably appeared more like a grimace).

"I'm sorry, Ardoin," she said. "It's been pretty overwhelming...I just...needed a moment."

Ardoin nodded at this, running his finders through his neatly-parted, swept-to-the-side hair. "If you say so, mademoiselle...anyway, your hearing will begin five minutes. Because I am your social service provider and wizard representative in the wizarding world, I will be allowed in." He licked his lips nervously and, Kassia noticed, his French accent became so pronounced his words were nearly indistinguishable.

"Why are you nervous, Ardoin?" she asked. Now it was _her _turn to appear concerned.

Ardoin sighed. "Often, Kassia, children like yourself, orphans," he began, giving her an apologetic glance when she cringed at the last word, "well, they are...taken advantage of. And there is only so much that I can do yo help you. That is one thing in this government that I do not agree with, the way that orphans are treated. People in _this_ world, the world of witches and wizards, are extremely susceptible to dangerous things...potions and spells gone wrong, that kind of incident. What does the government do with the orphaned children whose parents never made a will? They bring them to the courts, assign them to a family wanting a child and, since the child can own nothing until they are seventeen, they keep the child's parent's possessions until the child turns seventeen and tax them heavily until the children are able to retrieve them." He paused. "It upsets me, because it almost seems...seems like..."

"Like the government is turning these incidents into a business," Kassia finished for him solemnly.

Ardoin nodded. "But it is important to remember, mademoiselle, to respect the Wizengemot, charm them, figuratively, of course, if you must, but do not speak out of turn. No matter how disrespectful these people are, it is important to remember that they hold all of the power."

Kassia nodded she checked the delicate silver watch on her wrist. "Time for the hearing-" she began, until a pinched-looking lady stepped into the hallway.

"Kassia?" She asked in a nasal voice, "It is time for the hearing dear. And of course, you're welcome in, too mister..."

"Ardoin," Ardoin finished, shaking the lady's hand, "Kassia's representative."

They followed Ms. Chary (Kassia had read her name tag) into a large, dimly-lit courtroom with wood paneling and simple, cobweb-covered chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The chandeliers cast a flickering glow over the room because, Kassia noticed, they were lit with real candles. The floor was dull, grey marble.

In the center of the room, in front of the Wizengamot representatives and the spectator's seats (these were empty) was a chair. The chair was made of wood and looked hard-backed and uncomfortable. And chains were wrapped around it in a beautiful, terrifying pattern of metal. Kassia stopped dead at the sight of it, her gaze fixed. She would _not _be tied up; she'd had enough of that for a lifetime during her visit to Fowl's manor...

Ms. Cary chuckled. "It's okay, sweetie, we only make the naughty criminals sit in the chair. Here, I'll get you a _comfy _chair. Would you like that?"

Kassia, barely containing he self control after having been called "sweetie", nodded tersely. After Ms. Cary had returned with a chair, and Ardoin had taken his seat in the spectator's benches, the hearing began.

It was bone-dry, as dull as one of Mr. Bone's History of Magic lectures, and there was nowhere to sleep. Kassia sighed throughout the whole thing as the members of the Wizengemot debated _her _fate. When they told her to speak, she stood, gladly, and did so.

"Ladies and gentleman, I honestly and genuinely understand your concern for me, being parent-less and, for the moment, penniless in the Muggle world. However, I can assure that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Allow me to also remind you that, earlier this year, you granted me permission to begin using magic outside of Hogwarts. I was _deeply _honored that you trusted me so much, and I would be honored if you, again, were able to see that I am decidedly mature enough to be independent. Thank you."

Finally, a decision was reached. The head of the Wizengemot stepped forward after the group had convened to announce the verdict.

"As in the Muggle world, children are not permitted to be unsupervised until they come of age, we, the Wizengemot Tribunal, consisting of only our necessary members, have decided that in the case of Miss Kassia, formerly known as Banks, will be brought to Saint Mungo's Hospital Foster Center, and will remain there until the age of seventeen or until she has reached the end of her wizard training or if she is adopted by a family, wizard or Muggle. In addition, as her parents had no will, the inheritances that will be passed down to her, that is, the family fortune, will be suspended until she is of age, by the state of California. However, she will have the ability to retrieve select items beginning today. She will have access to her Gringott's account. Miss, you may take your leave."

Kassia rose slowly, nodded to the Wizengemot, and strode out the door.

Relief flooded through her; it could have been much, much worse.

Ardoin followed her out of the room with a piece of parchment in his hand. He did not speak until they were back in the cabin.

* * *

"You were very fortunate," he said simply. "It was definitely a good thing that your fortune was controlled by the Muggle government. And they are letting you take..." he trailed off, opening the folded-up piece of paper in his hand, "all of these. I will leave and return with containers for your move." With that, he turned sharply on his heel. The fire whisked him away.

Kassia never considered running away. She would leave too much behind; her projects, her friends (this was new to her), her schooling. So she began to go through the list and bring things from around the cabin.

Many of the items on the list were at her primary California residence, but she was able to collect many things, and a few things for her life at the foster home. She spent a lot of time roaming the halls, memorizing the paint of the walls, the smells of the old cabin, the incense that her mother had insisted on burning. Memories rushed through her, running across her vision like a picture show, of this house, of her other one, of her life before her parents had gone...

Her father, before he was a wealthy business man, dressed simply and smiling, young-looking, listening to her read _Alice and Wonderland_, her favorite childhood story, underneath her tree.

Her mother, treating a wounded kitten that they had found on the side of the highway not far from her home in California, her careful, paint-stained hands wrapping its injured paw.

Her father making his "big pitch" to the world, his Public Defibrillator. It turned him into a millionaire in months.

Her parents mingling with other wealthy people, and her six-year-old self babbling knowingly about the inner workings of the defibrillator, shocking the party guests.

Her mother fighting with her father about never being home.

Her parents finally making up, her father agreeing to sell the company...soon.

And how her parent's faces had aged over the course of only a few years...

"Kassia!" Ardoin called to her. She lifted her head from the couch, rubbing the sand out of her eyes. The sun had been up for ages; it was now nearly noon. She was expected at St. Mungo's at six o'clock this evening, but they had much to take care of before then. Most of the cabin had been cleared out. Now, Kassia realized, she would have to face another challenge; the building where her parents had been murdered.

Ardoin had moved most of the things that wouldn't be necessary at that foster home into a storage vault at Gringotts. Now, he stood by the fireplace, looking impatient and beckoning for her to follow.

* * *

Her old home looked exactly as it had in her dream (except for, thankfully, the strange glow and the ominous wind). Her parents had always loved light and solitude and Victorian architecture, much like herself. So this had been their dream home.

Kassia bit her lip and forced herself to move as swiftly as possible though it, not even gazing at the spectacular views outside the numerous windows, not really looking at any of her mother's paintings, which had been celebrated throughout the art community. And she avoided the room in which they had died at all costs.

Ardoin, as in the cabin, covered furniture with blankets and moved some of the bigger boxes of things into rooms in which they could be stored.

Finally, as the sun had begun to set, it was done. Kassia did not bother to memorize this house; there was nothing left here that didn't remind her of her parent's death. She pushed this place to the furthest corner of her mind and promised herself that she would do whatever was possible to never have to return here again.

She turned eagerly away from the sight of her past life, ready to push past it. Finally, they left, and arrived in Kassia's new life.

* * *

St. Mungo's was actually a very nice place; the caretakers were pretty friendly,actually, and none of children seemed depressed.

The building itself was very nice; cottage-like, in a way. And homey. The roses in the gardens added a lovely floral aroma, and Kassia found herself warming up to the place very quickly.

A middle-aged man with streaky grey hair greeted them at the front gate. Ardoin muttered a goodbye and Disapparated. She was a few minutes late (exactly thirty-two) but the man did not chastise her for it. He led her through hallways decorated with children's artwork, with wood molding and carvings of various flora and fauna, until they reached a small, bright kitchen.

Kassia was greeted first by the smells of wonderfully savory cooking, then by a spry-looking old couple (Victoria and Louis were there names) that, apparently, ran the kitchens. Behind them, through a doorway left ajar, Kassia could make out creatures working in the kitchens. She recognized them immediately; they were house-elves, slaves, essentially, and she had to bite back a rude remark. She was pretty firmly against slave labor.

She was seated in a group of girls that looked around her age. She was very amused to find that girls and boys sat at different tables, even though they were allowed to sit together if they really wanted.

Kassia started up a conversation with the blonde girl sitting to her right. The girl was incredibly shy, and practically jumped out of her chair when Kassia said hello. Her name was Haidee. She had shifty grey-blue eyes and was constantly doing _something_, whether it be tapping her fingers on the table or sweeping her hair back into a pony tail or tugging on her pendant necklace. When Kassia asked about it, Haidee replied simply, "From my parents," with a light German lilt. Kassia did not bring up the subject further.

After they had finished dinner, Kassia and Haidee walked back to their room together (Kassia had requested Haidee as her roommate). No one, Kassia noticed, had offered her any sort of greeting. She wasn't offended, she just found it odd.

When they were settling down for bed (just like Hogwarts, she got her own four-poster), Kassia took out her wand and waved it a few times, muttering spells and incantations, sending Shard little balls of light to chase. Haidee watched her fixedly, seeming mesmerized by her magic.

Kassia smiled and put away her wand. "So," Kassia began, swinging her knees over the side of her bed, "which magic academy do you go to?"

At this, Heide bit her lip. "I don't go to one," she whispered softly, "I'm a Squib."

Kassia frowned, and then her eyes widened. She began to speak rapidly. "I'm very sorry, really, I had no idea...I didn't mean to-"

She was taken aback when Heide smiled. "Thank you. For not...you know..."

Kassia shook her head. "I don't...what..."

Haidee sighed. "The other girls, well...they have something against Squibs. Actually, the whole wizard world does. We are non-magical. Not equal."

Kassia shook her head. "I don't believe that. From what I've heard, you're very clever and...I just...I don't think that that's right..."

Haidee smiled again. "Thank you, again." She paused for a moment. "So, does this mean we're friends?"

Now it was Kassia's turn to smile. "Of course it does."

* * *

**So, what did you think? What do you think of this Haidee character? I honestly don't know if she's going or staying...but if you have an opinion on it, leave a review or PM me or whatever, and I will take you opinion into consideration. Are you writing a fanfic that you would like me to read? Well then, again, send me a PM or review. **

**Motomo: Hey, it's okay, I don't expect you to post a review on every single chapter. :) But thanks for posting one. And thanks for your continued support, I cannot thank you enough! **

**And to all of my follow/favorite-ers, thank you, gracias, merci! :)**

**Farewell for now, everybody! :(**


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